Bones My Version
by femlionqueen
Summary: Gonna follow the lead of the series and write each episode, adding and filling the gaps between scenes of the episodes and seasons from my own perspective view. Don't judge me so bad... :) Booth X Brennan
1. Prologue

**August 2004**

'Have a good day-' receptionist of Edgar J. Hoover Building quickly said to woman was obviously rushing out of this place as quickly as possible. She almost forgot to remove her 'Visitor' badge, she was that pissed. Once she realised, the badge was quickly thrown on the table without any further explanation and before the receptionist was able to form a proper question as he was curious what have happened to this pretty young lady.

'…ma'am…' he quickly finished what he intended to say. Long before he knew, she was already out of the building with a wish to never ever come to this place again.

'I just saw your _Bone Lady_ flying at the full speed, like a rocket, cher…' Caroline Julian began the second she saw Seeley Booth sitting at his desk and staring miserably at one point, looking helpless. The second she finished speaking, he raised his head to face her, she noticed something on his cheek.

'You hit the door or something…?' Caroline's face looked puzzled. Booth squeezed his lips tighter in annoyance.

'No, apparently, I slapped myself and it was my fault…' Booth said sarcastically.

Caroline just raised her eyebrows at him.

'Really, Caroline? You really have to ask…?' Booth said as he reached to soothe his left side of face which was now marked by a small red hand print.

'I knew that woman was a walking trouble…' Booth looked at her from down. '…I mean since she double-punched federal judge turned murderer, feel sorry for that girl…'

'You mean her?'

'God, no. The murder victim…' Booth frowned, but Caroline didn't seem to notice. 'I'm glad ties are cut now for good…'

Booth frowned even more and this time Caroline did notice.

'You're having second thoughts, aren't you, cher?'

Booth didn't expect that kind of question from her.

'What? Me? No, nope…' he shook his head but as soon as he started, he winced as the pain struck his cheek. He reached with his hand to clutch.

'There you go, I'd say the evidence is in front of me. Case's closed.' She joked. 'Avoid her and your other cheek will survive through it…' Caroline turned around and began to walk away.

'So what now?' Seeley ask out of sudden.

'I'm heading over Cullen to sort things out. If I were you, cher, I would rather try not to get into more problems…'

'Oh, so now I'm in trouble too, that's great…'

'That's what I'm saying, cher…' Caroline stopped once again. Booth stood up, grabbed his suit coat, put it on and began to walk towards cafeteria. Caroline, not knowing what he was up to, decided to follow him.

'She might be smart, but it takes guts to attack a federal judge or agent.'

Booth opened the freezer hoping to find some ice cubes. He took plastic bag and threw a couple of them on it. Then he placed the bag against his cheek and sighed in relief.

'That's what exactly I need…' he leaned backwards on the counter.

'You don't think you need something else?'

'You mean cold beer, yeah, I do…'

'I mean to fill the charges against that woman.' Caroline said while crossing her arms on her chest. 'Have you thought about that?'

'I did.' Booth said with his eyes closed, obviously enjoying the chill.

'And?' Caroline persisted to find his plans.

'I don't know…' he simply said. Caroline groaned and dropped her hands in defeat.

'You do have second thoughts about her.' Caroline pointed finger at him. Booth opened one eye to look at her.

'And what if I do, does this make me an accomplice?'

Caroline scoffed at him. 'I'm going to see Cullen and you make sure my eyes will never see that woman again, ya hear me?'

This time Booth had both his eyes opened. 'Caroline, is this a threat?'

She was about to snap back at him but held herself, Booth just grinned at her widely. She turned around and walked out this time for good.

Minute later another agent came inside to make some coffee for himself. He eyed Booth with pity. As he began to sip his coffee, he was still looking at Booth. Seeley feeling being watched and sensing what was about to happen took advantage of the situation.

'I hit the door, okay?'

The fellow agent chuckled again and began to walk through the entrance.

'Must have been really hard door…' he smiled.

Booth took a deep breath and lowered his hand which was holding bag full of nothing but water.

Meanwhile, so called Bone Lady came back to her own work place. Still feeing angry, she went straight to her office and slammed the door behind her, completely ignoring everything and everyone who was staring at her. She literally fell on the couch, took one of the pillows to hide her face. She still felt tingling sensation on her right palm when it came in contact with the skin of that arrogant agent's face and in response she squeezed her fingers into a fist. She was about to drift into thinking about what could have been done and not when she heard a small knock on the door. Slightly opening it, the voice of another woman spoke.

'Hey, can I…'

She even didn't finish her sentence when the Bone Lady quickly sat up and nodded.

'You're okay? Are you crying?' The other woman sat beside her, look of worry in her eyes.

'No.' she quickly wiped the small tears that had spilled since she entered her office.

'Because on the phone, you were like the hell was about to break loose…'

'I don't understand what that means, Angela.'

Angela let out a sigh. 'What happened, Brennan?'

She was looking at her best friend, rolling her eyes whether she should tell her or not.

'I slapped him, Angela…' she went straight to the point. She understood that she would hate her if suddenly they find out that FBI is no longer working with them…again. So, there was no use to keep secrets.

'What…' Angela's eyes grew wider. '…why?' Then after a short moment, she added. 'Did you finish the case, at least?'

Tears began to gather in Brennan's eyes, something Angela thought was impossible to see.

'We did, but after it when we were talking with the mother of the victim, we started to argue in front of her until he pulled me out of the room and then I lost it.' she admitted. 'That's it. Done. No more FBI.' she said after she composed herself a little.

'Back to normal jobs, huh?' Angela asked sadly, accepting the fact that Booth will be no longer around, she really started to like this guy. Cute, handsome, kinda hot. She even secretly hoped that when Brennan 'admitted' by finding him appealing with jaw and shoulders stuff, there would be more than just a work between the two. And now you have it, maybe it wasn't up to fate.

'Yes.' Brennan said not noticing sadness in Angela's voice. 'Until then, I'll be preparing for Guatemala.'

'You're still thinking on going there?'

'Yes. I would be still going even while working with FBI and…' she couldn't finish and hung her head down.

Angela lifter her arm and placed on Brennan's shoulders, pulling her closer.

'Come here, sweetie…everything's gonna be okay…'

'You don't know that, Ange…' Brennan sniffed her nose.

'Just go with me on this one, will you?'

'Okay…' Brennan let out a small smile.

They stayed like this for a while until footsteps came closer to the entrance. Someone knocked on the door.

'Dr. Brennan?' She immediately turned around while Angela removed her arm. 'Can I speak with you for a minute? It's about you trip…' Dr. Goodman was standing with his hands behind his back. 'Miss Montenegro if you would excuse us?'

'Sure…' Angela said while standing up. '…I'll see you later…'

'Thanks Angela…' Brennan followed her until she was gone out of sight. 'What is it, Dr. Goodman?'

'I'm afraid that your trip to Guatemala might be delayed until next year…'

'What?!' Why?' Brennan jumped up from her seat. 'It's because of the FBI right?'

'This has nothing to do with the FBI, Dr. Brennan.' Dr. Goodman tried to calm her down and explain further the situation. 'Jeffersonian is facing some issues in relation to your trip, so for now we can't afford sending you abroad…'

Brennan began to pace in her office with her hands on her waist.

'Now this is a temporary problem… I can guarantee you will go there, but not for now…'

'You're sure?' Brennan asked while she stopped to look at him. Then she carried on pacing angrily.

'Positive…' Dr. Goodman nodded his head. 'Until then, I would like you and others to work on anything we have left…'

Angela and Hodgins were standing not far from Brennan's office observing the scene between two people in the room.

'What are they talking about?' Hodgins asked Angela.

'It's something about her trip to Guatemala…' Angela said simply. 'And I'm not sure if it's anything good about it there…'

They watched as Brennan stopped and had one her hand on her forehead while other was kept on her waist.

'Do we have an agreement, Dr. Brennan?'

'Yes.' she answered and sat down back on the couch. Dr. Goodman left her office and noticed the two standing and watching.

'I would suggest you get back to work, Miss Montenegro, Dr. Hodgins…' he said while walking past them. 'And get Mr. Addy… I'm sure he will be needed…' with that he left them alone standing near the platform.

'I'll go check up on her…' Angela said. 'You go and get Zack…' she said to Hodgins.

'Right.' he left her standing alone. Angela let out a sigh and began walking back to Brennan's office.

* * *

**Let me know what you think...**


	2. Pilot

**So as promised, the continuation of story - Chapter 2. Now I know what most people will think while reading this - oh, she just copied and pasted this, I'm out of here and so on... Yes, I'm taking a full responsibility for this and basically bringing this upon myself, but here is the deal. I will follow the original plot of each episode(yes, you read that right - each episode...) and in addition making my own possible situations in between the scenes or adding extra words in dialogues, describing emotions and feelings of characters and including them in episodes there were not supposed to be, but would fit in my opinion. I think it will be quite interesting experiment, as I already have some pre-made scenes for some of the coming chapters in the future, such as Double Trouble in the Panhandle, Hole in the Heart, Change in the Game and Prisoner in the Pipe, but that doesn't mean other episodes will be without any adds. It's just been a while since I finished watching all 12 Seasons. So...**

**There's more. Since I'm not a native American and English is not my first language, there might be some mistakes or inexactitudes that I might not even be aware of, so my biggest apologies to everyone who will come across this story. It's just a way I see things in it. And since I don't own Bones, the rest it's little piece of my imagination created by the keyboard.**

**P.S. For those who are still reading my other story about Saints Row and waiting for an update, don't worry. I'm not abandoning it, I swear. I'll get back to it sooner or later... ;)**

* * *

**September 2005 **

**Year and three weeks later…**

'Right, I'm on my way, thank you…' Seeley Booth spoke on the phone and jumped from his chair in his office while grabbing his suit in hand.

'This better be important…' federal prosecutor spoke as she was standing on the doorstep with papers in her hands. Some blonde woman was standing behind her.

'What is it, Caroline? I'm kinda busy right now…'

'Going somewhere, cher?' she raised an eyebrow at him.

Booth stopped in front of her fixing his sleeves.

'In fact, yes…' Booth was looking at her with a serious look. 'My son came back from Toronto and his mother and I have arranged that I'll pick him up…from the airport…'

'And I suppose to believe that?' Caroline didn't seem to be convinced. '…who was on the line…?'

'Caroline, why I feel this is an interrogation now, huh? In case you didn't know, I do have a son…'

'Because I know you too well to trust, cher…' Caroline replied with smile. 'I have a case for you…some remains were found in the pond near the military cemetery…'

Booth was tapping on his feet, anxious to leave, so he just quickly cut her. 'Yeah, yeah…just leave the folder on my table, I'll take a look, but now I'm really short out of time…'

'But…' Caroline tried to stop him as he walked past her and unknown woman, not even curious who she was. '…I brought you an expert who is looking forward to work with you-' she motioned, but Booth cut her again while grabbing the folder from her hands instead of just leaving them on the table. He knew one person who will be really interested to look at it too.

'Thanks Caroline, but I have someone already…no offence…' Booth turned around as he walked and jumped into the elevator.

'What?! I did not hear that...' Caroline yelped in shock. 'What do you mean, Booth? Booth?!' but he was already gone and she with a woman just shared a look before she spoke.

'So, you still want me to work with him?' woman asked Caroline.

'If I were you, cher, I would think twice about word _work_…' Caroline was slightly pissed not knowing what the hell was going on.

**Dulles International Airport**

'This is the final boarding call for Flight 416 with service to Dallas – Ft. Worth.' The announcer spoke through the speaker within the airport which was full of people. It was just another ordinary day here, but not for someone.

'I'm late.' Woman dressed in crimson coat with a bag in her hand was rushing to check the screens of arrivals.

Announcer just repeated the warning of a final boarding for passengers going to Dallas.

'This board is broken.' she said once she got closer to the screens and that was true. You couldn't read the list properly and due to a glitch it was impossible to read anything, however none of the staff seemed to notice or care. 'The arrivals board is not working.' she moved away from the screens trying to find anyone in charge among the passing people. 'Uh, did anybody meet the flight from Guatemala?' now she was just asking anybody with a hope. 'Aviateca Airlines? What gate?' once she realised it's useless to keep up like this she gave up and made her way to clerk desk. 'Yeah…I'm late…'

Though she didn't notice that someone was watching her from the close distance.

'That's her?' Bennet Gibson asked the man who was standing next to him leaning on the railing on the upper floor of the airport.

'No.' Man lifted his sight from the paper and confirmed. He had the list of passengers who came from Guatemala today, just to be clear that he is at the right time and place, looking for a specific name in it. 'Angela Montenegro. She's a friend...' He simply said while still looking at the paper. 'You're sure this list is correct?' he asked Gibson.

'I wouldn't have called you today, if it wasn't, Agent Booth…' he replied, but still was curious what was this is about. 'Why that person is so important to you?'

'Let's just say…in the past _she_ helped me a lot and I didn't have time to thank her…'

**In a meantime, Angela reached the clerk desk. **

'Excuse me…' she began. '…you have a computer glitch at the arrivals board…' the clerk raised his finger to wait and even didn't look from the computer screen.

Angela checked her wrist watch and tried to communicate with him again. 'Hello? Sir, excuse me, yoo-hoo...' And again, he raised a finger to wait up. 'Great.' She murmured and thought of the last resort to make this jerk talk.

She took a step back and took a hold of her coat and pink shirt underneath it. Pink corset was literally thrown into his view, though Angela kept a serious look despite the situation she just got involved into.

'Yeah.' Angela smiled sarcastically. 'Hi. The flight from Guatemala…' she was still looking at him as he was looking at her nearly naked chest. They stood like that for a couple of seconds until...

'That's her…' Booth said and crumpled the paper in his hand before throwing it to the bin. Gibson tensed up once he saw her too. Booth couldn't believe his eyes and his luck as he thought he will never gonna see _her_ again. There she is, standing there with small changes in appearance. C'mon, it's been the whole year, since he saw her. Unconsciously, his left cheek began to itch.

'How you want me to approach her?' Gibson brought him back from his thoughts.

'Carefully…' Booth replied. 'You don't want to get hurt…'

'Is this is some kind of a joke?' Gibson asked him. 'It's just a woman…she doesn't look dangerous…'

Booth turned to look at him while shaking his head. 'I'm not joking…' he leaned back with a smile. 'She's is more than that…she might be small, but it takes guts to stand against her…' Booth sounded serious. 'If I were you, I would ask for that bag she's carrying, it will look less suspicious…' Booth casually said and Gibson turned to look at him. 'I hope, you don't mean the bomb…'

'No, but it's something you just don't carry everyday…and in the airport…good luck…' Booth patted his shoulder and left him standing alone.

**On the lower floor, the corset situation was still going on…**

'Tell me you tried "excuse me" first…' someone came closer and spoke from behind Angela. She immediately turned around while covering herself. Relief washed over her face as Angela saw the person she was looking since she got here.

'Sweetie!' Angela gasped and began to walk towards her friend. 'Yes, I did, welcome home…' she said as they reached to hug each other. 'Are you exhausted?' Angela asked and saw her leaning tired face to the side as they began walking to the exit. 'Was Guatemala awful? Was it horribly backward?' Angela attacked her with questions.

'And yet, I was never reduced to flashing my boobs for information.'

Angela gasped. 'Flash them for any fun reasons?'

'I was literally neck-deep in a mass grave, not romantic, Ange…'

'You know, diving head-first in a pit of cadavers is no way to handle a messy break-up.'

'Angela, nothing Pete and I ever did was messy.' She said and felt someone was following them, she turned her head to the side just to confirm it. Angela didn't notice and carried on. 'Then you were not doing the right thing.' Angela said and didn't expect her friend to drop her bag and turned around to face someone.

'Sir, why are you following us?'

Gibson didn't reply but grabbed her arm, but she was quicker and twisted her arm up to his shoulder. Then she punched him in chest and gave another hit with her knee. Now that he didn't expect, and it was coming from a woman. FBI agent wasn't lying.

'Attack! Security! Hello!' Angela yelled through the place. 'Who runs this airport?' she asked with sarcasm.

Gibson got on his knees with his hand broke behind his back. 'Kick his ass.' Angela added more and flinged her handbag at the disarmed man.

Long before they finished, few security guards came behind them with the guns pointed. Some of other people stopped to see what was going on in a safe distance.

'Step back now!' one of them warned.

'He attacked me...' she tried to explain.

Gibson was now completely grounded on the floor. 'I'm Homeland Security!'

'Oh…little misunderstanding here.' Angela now felt a bit guilty for hitting the guy.

'You can put away your guns…' attacked woman said as of matter of fact, though she had her hands up in the air. Couple of the guards did as she told while others kept their stance.

Gibson, now restrain-free, was half way standing up, when he couldn't believe his ears as heard her giving orders to his guards. 'What, is she in charge now?' Guards pointed their guns at her again. 'No, I'll tell you when you can lower your weapons.' he was about to stand up. 'Hand over the bag.' He pointed out.

'Oh, is that what this is about?' she lowered her hands and bend over to pick up her belongings. Gibson, now fully standing on the solid ground took the bag and opened. Now, there was another surprise.

'Boo…' he heard her saying as he opened the bag and dropped it immediately back on the floor. He was greeted by what looked like a real human skull. He looked back at her is disbelief and horror in his face.

'You're coming with us…' Gibson said and one of the guards came behind to put the handcuffs.

She let they guy do his job and shared a smile with Angela. Other guards took her stuff and all of them walked to the security room. Angela was following them but was denied to come further.

'I'll wait here…' she said and sat on the bench next to the door.

Gibson smiled slightly. 'I think that will be unnecessary…'

'Wait? Wha-?' Angela said before Gibson closed the doors. 'Great…' she slumped back to the seat. 'I guess flashing my boobs won't help this time…' she mumbled to herself, but loud enough for the person to hear next to her. He looked at her with wide eyes. 'What? It's a reality, deal with it…'

Back in the security room Gibson dismissed the guards who came together and called another guard lady into the room. Then he placed the skull from the bag on the table. Then he looked at her waiting for an explanation.

'I am Dr. Temperance Brennan.' she began with head resting on her elbow like it wasn't a big deal. 'I've been in Guatemala for two months, identifying victims of genocide, including him.' she pointed everything out.

'Most people in this situation, what they do is they sweat it.' Gibson replied feeling quite anxious. This is not how he imagined this day would go on.

'Guatemala? Genocide?' Brennan asked. 'How are you scary after that?' she lifted her head away from hand while looking at him seriously.

Gibson was shaking his head slightly. 'You know who doesn't sweat it?'

'Sociopaths.' An officer behind him answered.

'I'm not a sociopath.' Brennan was now defending herself. 'I'm an anthropologist at the Jeffersonian.'

'Who works for the FBI.' Gibson declared, though it wasn't true, to Brennan at least. 'Which I'd maybe believe if you had ID that did more than allowed you access to the cafeteria…'

**Little did they know, there was another conversation behind the walls of this room, that was about to start and carry on…**

Angela was waiting long enough to feel worried that her best friend is being kept there too long.

'May I sit here?' voice of a man came up suddenly, but Angela didn't even bother to lift her head up to see who was speaking.

'Knock yourself out, it's a free country, at least for some of us…' she mumbled, and a man took a seat next to her.

'What happened?' he carefully asked. 'I saw security taking that woman with the bags and stuff, even saw handcuffs…'

Angela scoffed. 'Yeah, I was coming pick up my friend from the airport, had to do some crazy stuff, I'm sure you saw it…'

'Sorry, I didn't…' man replied. 'What did you do?'

'You don't want to know…' Angela felt relieved. 'That was the first and the last time I'm doing something like this…'

'Okay…' he wanted to keep this conversation going. 'What happened next?' he was curious.

'And then, then…I found her, we were walking down the airport when that officer came behind us and asked for a bag…like he knew Brennan was carrying something illegal…'

'Brennan? Temperance Brennan?' man asked surprised. 'That famous anthropologist…?'

'Yeah…' Angela was getting more interested in the conversation she was having right now. She became curious when a man handed her a familiar book, his wrist tattoo was showing, it looked like she has seen it before.

'It's her book, right?' man asked. 'She's also an author…'

'Right…' Angela took the book from him and was looking at the cover when her eyesight moved down to the man's shoes. His socks were stripped and in different colours. Angela straightened herself up while trying to control her breathing, her head spinning just because she didn't even look in the face of this guy, yet she already suspects who he is.

'_It's gotta be a coincidence…' _she thought in her head. Now thinking, she had heard his voice before and didn't hear it for a long time, _time of a year_.

They both sat in silence for a minute. Angela tensed up from getting close to finding out the identity of a man, her fingers gripped the book more tightly. Man, on the other hand was calm, pretending of not noticing how lady next to him began to tremble.

'You think I'll get an autograph?' he looked at her while facing her completely.

Angela slowly turned her head to meet his face, lips squeezed as well as eyes. He had dark shaded glasses on, smile quickly appeared on his face. She didn't need to turn fully to see him, as she instantly recognised him, she lifted the book and began to hit him on the upper arm.

'What the hell, Booth!' Angela's hits were quickly reaching him, he began to retreat back until he got up from his seat. Angela was still holding the book, surprisingly she didn't throw it at him.

'What?' he took off his glasses and lifted his hands to the sides like it was nothing serious. 'Not my fault, I'm a good actor…' he grinned at her. 'Took you a while to notice…'

'That's because you were gone…you jerk…' Angela lifted the book and was about to throw it when Booth lifted his hands in defeat.

'Hey, I deserved that, and I'm taking responsibility for it…'

'Yeah…?' Angela asked. 'Even when I was looking after Brennan all this time, helping her to get over this, she was like heartbroken, but knowing her, it was in a slight form. She was denying it all that time, like nothing happened, but I saw her how she was all this time…are you taking this responsibility too…?'

Booth looked down in guilt. 'Look, I'm sorry, I really am…' he looked up at her. '…but you think, you guys were the only ones having hard time…?' Booth was defending himself now. 'Since Bones left-'

'Don't call her like that…you know she doesn't like it…' Angela warned.

Booth let out a sigh and carried on. 'Since Brennan left…' he corrected himself, though he preferred to use the nickname he gave her. It suited her better. '…every other case wasn't the same, everything else wasn't the same since she left…I had to work with people, some of them were not qualified enough and thought they are suitable for this place, others were good but not good enough as _her_…I would rather work with nobody but _her_…' Booth admitted and Angela's face got softer. 'I couldn't stop thinking about her, I began to lose interest in my own work, without her it just wasn't the same…' Angela wanted to hug him, but retrained herself for now, until another wave of book smack was necessary.

'I missed her, everyday…believe me, Angela…if I could turn the time back, I would change and do things differently…'

'That's really sweet of you, Booth…she was thinking about you too, you know…on how to break your bones…every single one of them…she was that angry…' Angela said in calm voice and Booth just trembled in his seat while trying not to imagine how it would look like.

'Scared? I would be too…' Angela crossed her arms, book in between them.

'Hey, it's nothing compared that I had to lie to Bureau that I was going to pick someone else and not her…' he simply said knowing that this will blow his cover. 'Caroline would have and will kill me…'

A realization hit Angela and she began to hit him with the book again.

'You set her up! You set us up! You knew she was coming today, so you planned this ahead to be a hero of the day!?' her words were followed by stronger smacks from the book. Booth again had to cover himself.

'Hey, I thought you missed me!'

'And we did!' Angela scoffed at him through gritted teeth. 'But not like this!'

'Okay, okay…my bad…' Booth tried to calm her down. 'Let me handle this now, you won't be able to do anything now anyway…'

'I swear to God, Booth…if you hurt her in any way…you'll have problems with me…and this time…I MEAN IT…' Angela said while standing up and giving him a warning finger to his face. Booth stood up as well. 'Did I make myself clear?'

'I learned from my mistakes, Angela…won't happen again…' Booth assured her.

She just harshly showed the book to his chest, he gripped it as soon as it made an impact with his body. 'Good…' she looked at him smugly. 'I assume, I can say…see you at the lab…Boothy boy…' though she looked pissed, secretly she was happy that Booth was coming back, although she was worrying on how Brennan will react.

'Consider it being correct…' he waited until she was a bit away. 'Hey, Angela…' he made her to stop and turned around.

'What?' she threw.

'Nice stunt you did there at the reception desk…' he grinned. You won't see something like that every day.

'You bastard! You said you didn't see!'

'Hey, I'm good in acting…' with that Angela turned leaving him on his own. He well damn knew how to make women mad. First Caroline, then Angela. Now, another woman was waiting in his queue.

**Back at the airport security room…**

Booth entered the room expecting to see nothing else, but someone he missed like desert misses rain.

'You are illegally transporting human remains, ma'am.' Gibson said to Brennan who was focused on him, but not on the man who entered the room.

There she was, sitting here, so close to him. She did look exhausted, bags under her eyes, Guatemala did that to her, two months it's a long period of time, but she will be fine, it's Bones we're talking about. Booth just leaned back and just observed the whole scene, occasionally glancing at her, Gibson knew he will be coming, so he acted naturally.

'And you assaulted a Homeland Security agent.' Gibson accused her.

'Look, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in front of you friends, but next time, you should identify yourself before attacking me.' Brennan stood her rational ground that sounded almost comical, and Booth quietly chuckled before Brennan _attacked_ him. 'What are you doing here?' she turned to him.

Booth stood up straight like electricity ran through his body. 'FBI. Special Agent Seeley Booth, Major Crime Investigation, DC. Bones identifies bodies for us.' he had to say it out loud to piss her.

'Don't call me Bones…' she turned back to Gibson. '…and I do more than identify…'

'She also writes books.' Booth showed Gibson the book and slid it across the table. As if he forgot to add that to the list before Gibson got humiliated. As book stopped within a reach, Gibson took it and turned the cover up. Both Brennan and Booth were looking at him waiting for his answer.

'Fine. She's all yours.' he said as he raised his eyes to see Booth.

'Great. Let's grab your skull, and let's vamoose…' Booth was overly happy with the outcome, though Brennan wasn't.

'What, that's it? "She's all yours"?' she asked angrily as she stood up. 'Why did you stop me?' she asked Gibson as he was handing the rest of her stuff.

'What does it matter?' Booth tried to extinguish the fire she was on.' You're free to go. Let's just grab your bags…' he leaned over to reach what Gibson was handing over. Brennan looked at him, she figured out.

'You set me up.' she stated. 'You got a hold-for-questioning request from the FBI, didn't you?' she turned to Gibson. He was looking at Booth, then looked at her, thinking what to say. Brennan turned back to Booth, her look made him feel guilty inside. Gibson just tapped fingers on the cover.

'I love this book.' He simply said and handed it to Brennan. She took the skull and turned to walk past the Booth who was already holding her bags. He had to move aside otherwise she would walk through him.

'Come on…' she left the room first, Booth followed her after. 'Where's Angela? I thought she was waiting for me…' she looked around the corridor.

'Who?' Booth tried to play off. Brennan gave him a condemning look. "Angela?' I told her to go back to the lab…'

Brennan couldn't believe what was happening now, since when Booth began to be in charge again and give orders. She began to walk faster, trying to keep far distance and cursing him in the head, Booth had to keep up with her. They remained silent until they got into the car and left the airport territory and entered the city.

'That's the best you can do?' Brennan asked with a smile once she calmed down.

'What?'

'Getting Homeland Security to snatch me so you can stage a fake rescue?' she explained further.

'Well, at least I picked you up at the airport, huh?' Booth said smiling at her while trying to give the pros of the situation. 'Come on, I mean, I went through the appropriate channels, but your assistant there, he stone-walled me…'

'Yeah, well, after that last case, I told Zack never, ever to put you through. He's a good assistant.' she defended her colleague. 'You can let me out anywhere along here…' she moved to look out through the window.

'All right, listen, a decomposed corpse was found this morning at Arlington National Cemetery…' Booth was trying to change her mind about dropping off.

'Arlington National Cemetery is full of decomposed corpses. It's a cemetery.' she said in the matter of fact.

'Yeah, but this one is your type of corpse, it wasn't in a casket.' he explained further why it was different, however Brennan had different thoughts.

'If you drive one more block I'm screaming "kidnap" out of the window…' she said with a grin on her face. Best idea on how to make him listen to her.

'You know what? I'm trying to mend bridges here.' Booth said while remembering what happened between them last time. Also, he promised to Angela, so no screw ups.

'Pull over…' she said calmly and Booth new that was a silence before storm, so he decided not to take a risk.

The second he stopped she jumped off, grabbed her stuff and started to walk without turning around. 'I'm going home.'

Booth stepped out as well. 'Great. Could we…look, could we just skip this part?' he followed her making sure to keep distance.

'I find you very condescending.'

'Me? I'm condescending?' Booth asked surprised. He didn't expect that from her. 'I'm not the one who's got to mention that she's got a doctorate every five min-'

Brennan quickly turned around and cut him off. 'I am the one with the doctorate.' Then she turned back around.

Booth wasn't going to let her easily this time. 'Yeah, well you know what? I'm the one with the badge and the gun, huh?' she didn't reply, so he carried on. 'You know, you're not the only forensic anthropologist in town.'

'Yes, I am. The next nearest is in Montreal. Parlez-vous français?' she laughed a little, but Booth was out of options.

'What's it going to take, huh?' he stopped following her, having nothing else to offer and waiting for her wish list. Brennan stopped too and slowly turned to face him. She went straight to business.

'Full participation in the case…'

'Fine.' Booth quickly agreed, but Brennan wasn't done with him.

'Not just lab work, everything.' she added.

'What? You want me to spit my in my hand? We're Scully and Mulder.' Booth was thinking about the impossible.

'I don't know what that means.' she said, but Booth, knowing her too well, knew she was honest here.

'It's an olive branch. Just get back in the car…' Booth pointed his thumb back from where they started to walk all this way.

Driving another couple of blocks away they reached the cemetery.

'What's the context of the find?' Brennan began to walk through the countless number of gravestones. Booth followed her close.

'Routine landscaping, they drop the level of the pond, one of the workmen thought he saw something.'

They were getting close to the pond where cars of police and people in uniforms were already at the scene.

'Hi, Zack.' Brennan greeted her assistant as he closed the doors of Jeffersonian truck.

'This eco-warrior look works for you…' he said as she and Booth were coming closer.

'Thanks.'

'Very action-oriented.' he added and the three of them walked together.

'Agent Booth, you remember my assistant, Zack Addy?' Brennan became suddenly all official.

'Oh, yeah.' Booth said while remembering last time they saw each other, he wanted to make sure not to see him again.

'How was Guatemala?' Zack asked. 'Dig up lots of massacre victims? Learn a thing or two about machete strikes?'

'Zack, I need water samples and temperature readings from the pond.' she went straight to the case avoiding Zack's questions.

'Right away, Dr. Brennan.' and with that he left the two walking further towards the pond.

'He's got no sense of discretion, that kid.' Booth said annoyed. 'Typical squint.' he concluded.

'I don't know what that means.' Brennan replied to his comment.

'Well, cops get stuck, we bring in people like you. You know, squints, who squint at things.' he turned to her with his eyes nearly closed as he was imitating people he was talking about.

'Oh, you mean people with very high IQs and basic reasoning skills? she asked while Booth placed his glasses on and caught her bag just in time as she threw it.

'Yeah…' he whispered.

It didn't take long for them to set up the boat with the equipment and other stuff, once they were into the approximately right spot of the pond, Booth anchored the camera, while Brennan was focusing on the view in the screen.

'What, exactly, am I supposed to be squinting at?'

'It's like pornography.' Booth said casually as he stepped closer to her. 'You'll know it when you see it.'

Brennan tried to ignore his once again arrogant tone. Again, she looked at the screen without saying another word. There was something that caught her eye. A net that was wrapped around the sticks that actually were the bones of a human.

'Yeah, okay. This Is a crime scene.' Brennan confirmed. 'We need to lift it carefully to the surface.

'Right.' Booth said. 'Anything else I need to know that I'm thinking of knowing?'

'Get us back at the shore, I'll have to change into proper overalls…'

Once all the raising and lifting of the remains were done, most of the people left while Zack, Brennan and Booth stayed behind despite the fact that it was late evening with darkness covering the sky.

'The remains are wrapped in four-mil flat poly construction sheeting.' Brennan began the observation.

Zack was taking photos of the remains. 'PVC-coated chicken wire…' he added.

'Weighted. That's why the body didn't surface during decomposition.' Brennan carried on. 'The skeleton is complete but the skull is in fragments.'

'What can you tell me?' Booth came suddenly out of nowhere.

'Not much. She's a young woman, probably between 18 and 22, approximately five foot three, race unknown, delicate features.'

'That's all?' Booth was surely expecting more from her.

'Tennis player.' Brennan added.

'How do you get a pretty tennis player out of that yuck?'

Zack began to explain. 'Epiphysis fusion gives age. Pelvic bone shape gives sex…'

'Bursitis in the shoulder.' Brennan said as she leaned over the bones. 'Somebody this young, it must be an athletic injury.'

'When did she die?' Booth wanted to get accurate information.

'Eh…' Brennan began, but Booth was quickly, not having enough patience.

'Eh? What does that even mean?' Booth looked at her. Zack was still taking photos.

'Means wait until our bug and slime guy takes a look.' Zack cut in while lowering camera down.

'No clothing.' Brennan still carried on.

'You know, in my line of work, no clothes usually means a sex crime.' Booth said as he was right.

'In my line of work, it can also mean, the victim favoured natural fibers.' Brennan gave her own argument while still looking over the remains.

'Your suit, for example, will outlast you bones by decades.' Zack made a conclusion.

'Collect silt, three meters radius to a depth of ten centimeters.' Brennan said as she stood up from the ground. Then she turned to Booth. 'Your FBI forensics team can take the plastic and the chicken wire, we'll take the rest…'

**Next morning… Natural History Museum**

'Dr. Goodman…' Brennan began once she saw him going up the stairs. Zack was keeping with her.

'Ah, Dr. Brennan, good morning…' he leaned over to greet. Brennan followed him up and caught up with him.

'I wish you wouldn't just give me to the FBI.' Brennan went straight to business, obviously annoyed by the events of yesterday.

'As a federally funded institution, the Jeffersonian must seize every opportunity to prove our worth to our friends in Congress, which means I loan you out as I see fit, especially to federal agencies.' Goodman was explaining the situation why it was necessary. The three of them were walking round on the upper floor, Zack following the two.

Brennan was not happy. 'Loan out implies property, Dr. Goodman. The FBI will never respect mere property…'

'I do not view you as property, Dr. Brennan, you are one of the Jeffersonian's most valuable assets.'

'An asset is by definition, property.' Zack was aiding Brennan as he listened the conversation in front of him.

'What's the rule, Mr. Addy?' Goodman asked him with a sigh.

'You only converse with PhDs. You realize I'm halfway through two doctorates? Two halves make a whole, so mathematically speaking…' Zack's voice changed like it was obvious for everyone.

'Go polish a bone, Mr. Addy.' Goodman was tired of his speech. He and Brennan left him alone while they descended downstairs to the centre of Museum.

Brennan carried on with her theory once they walked alone. 'Dr. Goodman, FBI agents will never respect any of us as long as you simply dole out scientists like office temps.' they were walking near the exit now.

'Dr. Brennan, are you playing me?' Goodman looked at her with curiosity in his face once they stopped.

'You know I'm no good at that.'

'Mmm, thus far, but you have a disturbingly steep learning curve.' with that he left her meaning the conversation was over between the two, so Brennan had nothing else to do, but to get back to Institute through the park, in quite speedy step.

Once inside she went straight to her office and sat at her desk, still pissed at the current situation, she couldn't believe that Goodman was willing to give her out that easily to the hands of FBI. Knock on the door brought her back.

'Hey, how did it go?' Angela asked while standing on the doorstep. Brennan just shook her head and Angela let out a sigh. 'Hodgins, Zack and I are waiting for you to get on the platform, remains are ready…'

'Okay…' Brennan said while standing up and grabbing her blue lab coat. Four of them then proceeded to the platform.

'Pond is not only warm and teeming with microbes, which accelerated decomposition, but it houses black carp and koi, which fed on the body…' Hodgins said to the group while they were walking closer the remains.

'Can I, as the only normal person in this room, say ew?' Angela expressed her disgust while looking at Hodgins, though he carried on his explanation on what he has found so far.

'I got three larval stages of Tricoptera, Chironimidae…'

'As we cut to the chase…' Brennan cut him off.

'The body was in the pond one winter and two summers.'

'Spring before last?' Brennan asked.

'You really think I'm lusty?' he said with a smile.

Brennan looked at him confused until Angela interrupted them. 'The book.'

'No, no, no, you're not in the book.' she defended herself.

'Sure he is, we all are…' Zack added too.

'No, none of you are in the book, those are fictitious characters based on…' this time Hodgins cut her off.

'I found some small bone fragments in the silt…' he said as he turned on the screen to show them all.

'We're out of the book now, we're back in real life…' Angela tried to change the subject.

'I'd guess Rana temporaria.' Hodgins said.

'Frog bones?' Brennan asked.

Hodgins carried on. 'Also, some tiny gold links, as from a fine chain…' he showed on the screen again.

'Point of clarification…' Zack said and everyone turned to see him. 'I'm not a virgin., nowhere near, in fact.' He had confident face. Brennan just sighed, it's not like really the time to discuss her book when they have something waiting for to be done.

'Who you captured perfectly is Booth…' Angela started. 'Buttoned down, but buckets of sexual confidence which, oh, I, for one, would love to tap…' she looked at Hodgins, he just shook his head.

'It's not right to discuss tapping asses in front of the soaker….' Zack said.

'I can't bounce back and forth between my book and real life.' Brennan had enough of their discussion over the book. 'Since we're stuck with real life, let's just forget the book.' she turned to Hodgins.

'I haven't analysed whatever it was the victim was holding in her hand, but it looks like cellulose.' he looked at the screen again.

'Paper?' Angela asked him.

'Hmm. Possibly…' he replied, still being unsure about that.

I found microscopic grit embedded in the skull fragments. I need you to identify those two.' Brennan lifted her face to see him. 'Remove the remaining tissue, I'll debride the skull fragments myself.' she turned to Zack. '…reassemble it so Angela can put a face on our victim.' Brennan turned to her.

'Good, I prefer holographs.' Angela pointed out. 'They don't stink.' she added too while looking at the remains with the same disgust. While Angela and Hodgins left the platform, Brennan walked to Zack.

'I don't like those terms for humans remains –'soaker', 'crispy critter'…'

'I know, Dr. Brennan.' he replied honestly.

Though this day was coming to the end, and it was late evening, Brennan stayed behind in the lab, while everybody was out, well, maybe couple of lab security guards. But that didn't hold her of what she had to do. Pieces of small and tiny skull bones were on the platform table in front of her. She didn't want to go home, she didn't feel tired yet, her passion was taking over now. She was glad, she didn't hear anything from FBI side all day. Maybe Booth wasn't serious about this.

So, she began to put the skull, piece by piece, like a puzzle, ignoring any other thoughts and completely losing track of the time till she even didn't realised that she felt asleep right on the table. Completed skull was already there, the sound of cup of coffee being placed next to her and the smell, woke her up. Before she realised where she was at, it was already light up in the lab.

Not long before, she gathered her stuff and left the institute, making her way through the city to get some proper rest at home.

**Little did she knew that there was conversation going on in the Bureau which was related to her. **

'So, you guarantee this squint will be on a field role in an active murder investigation? Cullen asked.

'Yes, sir.' Booth replied to his supervisor.

'The one that wrote the book?' he asked.

'Yes, sir.' Booth confirmed.

Cullen was sitting at his desk while Booth took a seat before him.

'Thought you said she wouldn't work with you anymore…' Cullen said as he dropped the book on the table and took off his glasses.

'Well, the last case we worked, she provided a description of the murder weapon and the murderer, but I didn't give her much credence.'

'Why not?'

'Because she did it by looking at the victim's autopsy X-rays.'

Cullen scoffed. 'Well, I wouldn't give it much credence, either.'

'Turns out she was right on both.' Booth was defending her. 'Plus, the pond victim…Brennan gives me the victim's age, sex and favourite sport.' Booth added while standing up and passing the folder of the current case. Cullen opened to see the photo of the whole remains and chuckled by hearing Booth saying _sport_.

'Which is?' he couldn't believe that it was possible to tell from the photo he was holding right now.

'Tennis.' Booth straight answered knowing that is true.

'She's good.'

'No, she's amazing.' Booth knew better and it was true. 'Only way I can get her back on my side is to bring her out in the field…I'm willing…'

Cullen took off his glasses once again. 'Fine. She's on you.' he agreed. 'Take that squint out in the field, she's your responsibility.' he gave Booth back the folder.

'Yes, sir.' Booth tried to stay calm, though inside he felt so relieved and happy that he might explode.

In a meantime, in the other side of the city, Brennan was taking a nap, tired from sleep in uncomfortable position, not even knowing that her real life was about have a twisting turn again when…

There was a cracking sound of doors opening in her apartment, that made Brennan open her eyes and sat up straight on bed, trying to listen further. Slowly she got up on the floor, grabbed baseball bat from under her bed, for self-defence and slowly made her way to the hallway with bat in her hands ready to strike. She even didn't bother to undress herself, she had her pants, tank top and boots.

Sound of someone in her place was still there and Brennan moved to the wall to carefully approach the intruder. Someone was walking out of her sitting room on the way moving through the curtains of the doorstep. As soon as he or she was in the reach, Brennan took a swing and before realising, she hit the TV causing the person who was carrying it to fall back to the room. She came closer to see the person still holding the bat ready to attack.

'Peter?' she couldn't believe her eyes.

The guy stood up and looked at her while trying to regain himself after what happened. For a moment they looked at each other.

'I can explain…' he said. He moved to sit on the couch, Brennan threw the bat away, poured him a drink and sat on the other couch.

'It's not rational for you to choose the first day I'm back to reclaim your television.'

'While you were away, I thought a lot about why we broke up.' Peter said and took a sip.

'We fought all the time and don't like each other anymore.' Brennan gave him an obvious fact.

'We fought because you were emotionally distant and cold.' Peter gave his reason and tried to make up her mind. 'But sexually speaking, I think you'll agree…'

'_You sick bastard…' _Brennan thought, everything was clear to her. 'You didn't come for your TV. You timed this for a booty call.' she got up and took a glass away making him to stand up. 'Okay, you're leaving. Come on.' she rushed him out of her place.

'Your intimacy issues are probably due to being orphaned so young.' Peter tried to compromise while standing up.

'Ahh, I hate psychology. And you're just horny.' they were walking through the corridor.

'Brennan, do you really want to spend the rest of your life alone?'

'Okay, I don't know about the rest of my life, but I sure as hell wish I was alone right now.' she really wanted him out of here.

Once Peter was out he turned to her. 'So, what? We split the cost of the TV?' he knew he lost his chance, so at least what he could do, was the thing he was trying to get back.

'Goodbye.' Brennan groaned and shut the door right in front of his face. And as it would be a coincidence, her phone rang, she picked up.

'What?' she asked annoyed.

'Are you okay?' Booth asked sensing her tone change.

'I'm fine, what is it?'

'Come to the lab tomorrow morning.' he said and hung up.

Brennan just threw her phone away. Day just couldn't go any better…

**Next morning…Imaging Unit Office**

'This is interesting, Angela.' Booth said while looking at the wall-size painting.

'Good morning.' Brennan entered the room walked further while looking at him. 'Does Booth know how this works?'

'This computer program, which I designed, patent pending…' Angela hurried to announce it with a chuckle while the machine in front of her was powering up. '…accepts a full array of digital input, processes it and then projects it as a three-dimensional holographic image.' she explained to the gang as all of them were gathering around the device that consisted of two panels, one on the top, the other on the bottom which was glowing in yellow.

'Okay…' Booth quietly mumbled.

'You get that?' Brennan asked him.

'Yeah, the patent pending part…'he said.

Angela smiled at his answer. 'Brennan reassembled the skull and applied tissue markers.' she pressed some buttons on her touch-pad.

'Her skull was badly damaged…'Brennan said while turning around she looked at the skull she managed to put together. The picture of upper bones started to appear between the panels. '…but racial indicators, cheekbone dimensions, nasal arch, occipital measurements, suggest African-American.' she turned back to the picture Angela created.

'And…we have our victim…' Angela said while looking at her creation. Digital bones now were slightly covered by flesh and hair giving it a look and a face of a real person. Booth came closer to check it out.

'Whoa…' he said amazed. He reached with his hand to try and touch it but it was only air he was grasping. ' Gotta admit, that's pretty cool…'

'Ange, rerun the program substituting Caucasian values.' Brennan said while taking Booth's arm away. Angela pressed touch-pad couple of times and that slightly changed the image. 'Does she look familiar to anyone?'

'No.' Booth said.

'Split the difference. Mixed race.' Brennan addressed to Angela again.

'Lenny Kravitz or Vanessa Williams?' Angela asked just to be sure.

'I don't know what that means.'

Angela just swung her head slightly and hit the pad. Now the digital image of victim gained even more clear details.

'Angela, reduce tissue depth over the cheekbones to the jawline.' after that was done, Brennan asked again. 'Does anyone recognize her?'

'Not me.' Zack spoke while Hodgins remained silent.

'Wait…' Angela began. 'Is that who I think it is?'

'The girl who had the affair with the Senator?' Zack asked.

'Her name's Cleo Louise Eller…' Booth suddenly said. '…only daughter to Ted and Sharon Eller. Last seen approximately 9:00p.m., April 6, 2003, leaving the Cardio Deluxe Jam on K Street. She didn't even make it to her car.'

'Pretty good memory.' Brennan complimented him.

'Yeah, well, it's my job to find her.'

'In that case, congratulations on your success.' Hodgins said with irony.

'This isn't exactly the way I wanted it to end.' Booth said.

'Yeah, well that's what happened…' Hodgins said. 'Can we do a break here, I'm looking forward to get some lunch. Who's with me?'

'Me.' Zack quickly said. Hodgins turned to Angela.

'He's right guys…' Angela said and turned off the mighty device.

'Fine, then…'Brennan said. 'I need to find Dr. Goodman to tell him what we found so far…'

'We'll see you in the Museum…' Hodgins said and together with Zack and Angela he left, leaving Brennan and Booth alone.

'I'll come with you…' Booth insisted.

'No need.' Brennan said and walked past him, but Booth didn't listen to her.

**20 minutes later…**

'Cleo Eller is not just some missing girl.' Booth said as he and Brennan walked down the stairs outside the Museum.

'Yeah, she's a senate intern who was boinking Senator Allan Bethlehem.' Hodgins replied to his Booth's statement. Together with Zack and Angela they were sitting on the stairs, resting and eating lunch.

'I was secondary in the investigation into the disappearance of that girl, and we couldn't confirm that.' he opened the folder and compared two photos – one that was digital creation of Angela, second – one of Cleo's, taken before she disappeared. 'How did you recognize her before she even had her own face?' Booth asked Brennan.

'I recognized the underlying architecture of her features, the rest is just window dressing.'

'I'm not an expert, but shouldn't he be happier?' Zack asked while listening to them.

'Oh, no, believe me, I'm happy.' Booth said while adjusting photos in the folder.

'You seem happy to me, Booth.' Angela said.

'I need this kept quiet.' Booth said and began walking down the stairs.

'Ah, cover-up.' Hodgins bit him.

'Paranoid conspiracy theory.' he said, Brennan began to follow him.

'Is it paranoia that Monica Lewinsky was a KGB-trained sex-agent mole?' Hodgins shouted, but Booth and Brennan were already far away from them to hear, making their way in garden that was between Museum and Institute.

Brennan kept up with Booth. 'So, what do you do first confront the Senator?'

'Listen, Bones. I know…' he began, but Brennan was quicker.

'Don't call me Bones.' she hoped he won't use it again, but here we go.

'I know we talked about you coming out in the field and all…'

This was not happening again. 'Oh, you rat bastard!' she groaned in anger.

'But if it's this big, the Director's going to create a special investigation unit and if I line all my ducks up in a row, I can maybe head it up.' he walked faster, Brennan got to increase her own speed.

'I don't know what that means, but I think I can be a duck.' she caught up with him in a couple of long steps.

'You're not a duck, okay? On this one, we stick to the book – cops on the streets while squints in the lab.'

'Well, in that case, the Jeffersonian will be issuing a press release identifying the girl in the pond.' Booth turned to her knowing how crucial it would be if they did that.

'You do that, I'm a dead duck.' he came closer to her. 'What are you trying to do?'

'Blackmail you.' Brennan said while meeting his eyes with her own.

'Blackmail a federal agent?' he asked her. '_She can't be serious…_' he thought.

'Yes.'

'I don't like it.'

'I'm fairly certain you're not supposed to.' she left him no choice, but to rearrange his conclusion about cops and squints.

'Fine, you're in.' and with that he began to walk away.

'Where are you going?' Brennan began to follow him again.

'To the Bureau…'

'Can I come?' they were getting close to the fountain, when Booth stopped again.

'No, you can't…' he said and her face frowned. '…you have to.' her face lit up again.

**FBI Headquarters**

'You're certain it's Cleo Eller?' Cullen asked them.

'The profile's dead on: age, race, height.' Brennan began.

'Plus, the timeline fits.' Booth said as he turned to her, then at Cullen. 'I mean, Cleo Eller did play tennis in college.'

'Talk to me about the Senator.' Cullen insisted.

Booth looked through the folder. 'Cleo Eller, the victim, worked for Senator Bethlehem.' he handed Cullen the folder, this time with more updates.

'It was reported that they were involved sexually.' Brennan added, but Booth did the opposite thing.

'We couldn't confirm that.'

Cullen was looking at the photo of the Senator. 'Well, Bethlehem's a hound. Everybody knows that.'

'Ken Thompson, Cleo's boyfriend.' Booth handed another photo to Cullen.

'Thompson's still Bethlehem's aide. Thompson keeps Bethlehem's calendar, no way the Senator has an affair that Thompson doesn't know about. No sexual relationship, no motive. What about the nut case?' Cullen revealed his theory and asked.

'Oliver Laurier.' Booth handed another photo.

'Do you like him for this?' Cullen asked as he was taking the picture to see.

'He's a stalker.'

'Hm, what's your first move?'

'I'd like to inform the Ellers that we found their daughter.' Booth explained while Brennan was looking at him. Cullen just scoffed.

'It's better to keep this quiet, it's been what, two years? What's another few days?' Cullen asked while taking off his glasses.

'With all due respect sir, I've come to know the family pretty well, especially the Major and two years is a hell of long time in limbo.'

'I'll have details of cause of death by this afternoon.' Brennan added.

'That's where we'll get started.' Booth said and together they left the room and Bureau.

'Hodgins identified the particulates embedded in Cleo Eller's skull as rolled steel most likely from a sledge-type hammer. Also, there's cement and diatomaceous earth.' Brennan said as she gave the tube containing white stuff.

They were in the car heading over Cleo's parents to tell the news. In that time Brennan was looking over the lab report Hodgins did just before they left the lab.

'What's that?' Booth asked taking it in his hand.

'Looks like that.' Brennan said. 'It's made up of prehistoric sea creatures, it's used as an insecticide, filtering agent cleaning abrasive ceramics.' she explained further. Booth just shook the tube in his hand. 'It's very common.' she finished.

'Diatomaceous earth, common or not, it's a clue.' he said, while handing it back to her.

They drove a bit further until they reached the right house.

'Sharon Eller?' Booth asked just to be sure, they got into the right place and saw the right people.

'Yes, how can I help you?' woman answered after the opened the doors.

Booth showed his badge. 'Special Agent Seeley Booth, this is my _partner_ Dr. Temperance Brennan. Is your husband home?' Booth again felt itch on his cheek when saying word _partner_, Brennan on the other side looked quite satisfied hearing him saying that. And not calling Bones.

'Yes, he is.' she replied. 'Is something wrong?'

'It's about your daughter, ma'am.' Booth said and woman's eyes got wider.

'We found her…' Brennan finished and shared a quick look with him.

'Can we come in?' Booth asked.

'Sure. Right this way.' she let them in. 'Ted!' she said with high voice.

'Is everything alright?' dark skinned man came in.

'They found her…'

Ted was standing still for a moment until he regained consciousness. 'Please, have a seat.' he addressed to Brennan and Booth.

Once they got comfortable Ted broke the silence.' You're positive it's our Cleo?'

'We established 22 matching points of comparison…' Brennan began with her scientific stuff, but Booth nearly cut her off.

'Yes, we're certain.'

'Did he do it?' Ted asked. 'The Senator? One military man to another?'

'Major Eller, we can't discuss the investigation in any way.' Booth explained.

'Can you at least tell us if our daughter suffered?' Sharon pleased to know the answer.

'Given the state of her skull…' Brennan began and Booth finished after her. 'Cleo never saw it coming.'

'Mrs. Eller, could you tell us what Cleo wore around her neck?' Brennan asked.

'Her father's Bronze Star.' Sharon motioned to look at the photo behind. 'Ted won it in the first Gulf War and he gave it to her for luck.' and immediately she broke. Ted wrapped his arm around her as he pulled her closer, her head on his shoulder.

Booth linked his head to Brennan indicating it was time to leave. 'Thank you.' Booth said to Ellers.

'Please, find who did this…' Ted said not letting go of his wife.

'We will…' Booth promised and together with Brennan they left the house.

'Those people deserve the truth…' Brennan said once they were outside.

'Their daughter was murdered, they deserve the kindness of a lie.'

'There will be an inquest report.'

'Which they won't read because they don't want to, especially because toward the end, Cleo and her parents weren't even speaking.'

They told you that?' Brennan asked surprised.

'You know, getting information out of live people is a lot different than getting information out of a pile of bones, you have to offer up something of yourself first.'

'What exactly did you do in the military?'

'See? See what you did right there, Bones?' he pointed the finger at her. 'You asked a personal question without offering anything personal in return.' he was giving her a lecture. 'And since I'm not a skeleton, you get zilch, sorry.' he was getting inside the car.

'Just bring me back to the lab.' Brennan asked.

'I wasn't thinking anywhere else but there.'

**Back in Jeffersonian…**

Bones of Cleo Eller were cleaned and moved from platform to the room called _Bones_. This place had drawers full of unidentified bones waiting to be identified.

'There are stab marks here and odd markings on the distal phalanges. Nothing I've seen before.' Brennan was studying the fresh clean bones while Zack was taking photos. Soon they were accompanied by Hodgins.

'In a nutshell?' he asked. 'Anxious, depressed and nauseous.'

'Take a sick day.' Brennan offered him thinking that he was talking about himself.

'Not me, Cleo Eller…' he gave Brennan the clipboard with another report paper on it. 'Pupal casings show she was on Lorazepam, Chlordiazepoxide and Meclizine Hydrochloride.' he said while looking at the screen where Cleo was photographed in tennis court.

'Nausea, show me those bone fragments.' Brennan looked over the report.

'They are here…' Zack said and Brennan sat next to the microscope.

'These aren't frog bones., Cleo Eller was pregnant.'

'Fetal remains?' Zack asked as he and Hodgins were looking at the screen together.

'Malleus, incus, stapes…' Brennan was naming each of them. 'These are fetal ear bones.' she announced.

'The girl was pregnant.' Hodgins confirmed.

'Not very far along.' Brennan hurried to add.

'You want me to try and get a DNA reading, see if we can prove paternity? Zack offered.

'You can try. Let's hope there's enough genetic material to test.' Brennan handed bones to Zack and he quickly made his way out of the room.

'This Senator, oh, he is smart…he gets an intern pregnant, then murders her when it threatens his career and he has the connections to get away with it…' Hodgins was hating this guy already.

'I hate it when you make paranoia plausible.' Brennan said as she stood up, clipboard with report in her hands. 'It's like sliding off a cliff.' she stood next to Cleo's bones.

'This special unit, no way your FBI pal heads it up, unless the dark powers in charge are convinced he knows where his political bread is buttered.' he took the report from Brennan. 'Either way, that's where the investigation ends.' and with that he left her alone.

Later, Brennan asked Angela to show the digital version of Cleo, but her mind was drifting somewhere else with everything she heard from Booth and Hodgins. She even didn't excuse herself as she left Angela and went to lean over the railing outside her own office. Moments later, Angela came up to her. 'Want to get a drink?' she asked. 'Non-topical application? Glug-glug, whoo-hoo?'

Brennan just lifted her head, but didn't say a word. Angela didn't take that as an answer. 'Come on, sweetie.' Together they walked further between the beams of the Institute and window glass that was covering it.

'What if Booth's right?' Brennan asked suddenly. 'What if I'm only good with bones and lousy with people?'

'People like you.' Angela comforted her.

'I don't care if men like me.' Brennan said and crossed her arms on her chest.

'Okay, interesting leap from _people _to _men_, but I'm sure it means nothing.' Angela waved her hand away.

'I hate psychology.' Brennan declared. 'My most meaningful relationships are with dead people.' she was laughing at herself.

'Who said that?' Angela got all protective of her best friend.

'No one, it's true.' they sat on a bench. 'I understand Cleo, and her bones are all I've ever seen. When she was seven, she broke her wrist, probably falling off a bike, and two weeks later, before the cast was even removed, she got right back on that bike and broke it all over again.' Angela nodded and let her to carry on. 'And when she was being murdered, she fought back, hard…even though she was so depressed she could hardly get up in the morning.' Brennan was facing Angela. 'She didn't welcome death, she wanted to live.'

'Honey…you ever think that maybe you come off a little distant because you connect too much?'

'I hate psychology.' Brennan repeated. 'It's a soft science.'

'I know, but…' Angela snaked her arm around Brennan's. '…people are mostly soft.'

'Except for their bones.'

'Yeah.' Angela said. 'You want some advice?' she asked.

Brennan gave her a look. 'Glug-glug, whoo-hoo?' but Angela had something else in mind.

'Offer up a little bit of yourself every once in a while. Just…tell somebody something you're not completely certain you want them to know.'

Brennan lifted her head up with a smile. 'That's the second time I've received that advice.' she looked back at Angela.

'Well, you know I give great advice.' Angela was slightly proud of herself.

'I going to have to have to push this to the next level.' it was totally weird and unusual for her to say those words out loud.

'Right, but before you do, we're gonna have couple of drinks tonight, my treat.' Angela said and stood up. 'So, you can't say no…'

'Wasn't planning on it…' Brennan smiled and stood up as well.

**Next morning, U.S. Senate, Hart Office Building**

'I'm confused as to why the Director of the FBI would send you to speak to the Senator instead of coming himself.' Ken Thompson asked as he, Brennan and Senator were walking down the lobby.

'Probably because I'm the one that found that Cleo Eller was pregnant.'

'You could tell the girl was pregnant from her skeleton?' Senator asked Brennan. Chewing gum in his mouth got Brennan's attention.

'We found fetal bones.' she explained further. 'The only question, Senator, is which one of you is the father.'

Thompson and Senator share a look. 'Are you willing to submit to a DNA test?' she asked them both. Thompson turned to Senator. 'You know what? Given the sensitivity, don't say anything on the subject without your attorney present, that's my advice.'

'Advice I intend to take.' Senator said while looking at Brennan. 'Ken, we have a vote to get to.' he walked past Brennan to dispose gum he had in his mouth to the bin. Brennan followed him and once he threw it, she rushed to retrieve it with a tissue.

'Uh, what are you doing?' Thompson asked.

Brennan moved away from the bin, lifting the gum to show. 'Saliva, say from chewing gum, it's an excellent source of DNA and I intend to compare it to the DNA in the fetal bones.'

'You need a warrant for that.' Senator said. Then he turned to Thompson. 'Ken. She needs a warrant.'

Brennan stopped and turned around with her arm up. She saw Thompson coming towards her and grabbing her hand. Big mistake, pal. Brennan turned around on her heels and punched him in stomach. Thompson fell on his knees.

'If we have any further questions, we'll be in touch.' Brennan was leaving like it everything normal.

Thompson groaned and Senator came up to him to check. 'Ken, you're okay?'

**FBI Bureau. 2 hours later…**

'I could place you under arrest on a federal charge right now for uttering threats against a United States Senator.' Cullen was not happy with the situation that happened in the Senate.

'What?' Brennan asked surprised.

'Bones…' Booth quieted her.

'I own her, but she was your responsibility.' he was looking now at Booth.

'Yes, sir.'

Cullen pressed over the phone intercom. 'Send in Special Agent Furst…I warned you about taking squints out to the field, but you vouched for her, said she wouldn't screw up.' he was talking to Booth.

Booth had nothing else to say. 'Yes, sir.'

'No, no. Booth didn't know that I was going to see the Senator.' Brennan stood her ground to defend Booth. 'I wanted to get a sample of his DNA.'

'Exactly.' Cullen said looking at Booth.

'Not helping.' Booth quickly said.

Agent Furst entered the room. Once he was inside Cullen started to reveal his plans. 'Tomorrow morning I'm announcing the formation of a special unit to investigate the murder of Cleo Eller, at which time your investigation will be officially terminated, you will not head the new unit.'

'Congratulations, Patrick.' Booth said to the agent in the room and not even looking at him.

'No hard feelings.' Furst replied.

"Right.'

'I need the complete case files in the morning.' Furst said to Cullen, but Booth answered it for him. 'Of course, they'll be ready.'

'Thank you, Agent Furst.' Cullen dismissed him and Agent left.

'Well, at least Dr. Brennan found out that Senator Bethlehem was having sex with Cleo.' Booth said as he stood up from his seat.

Brennan was so focused on her thoughts about being terminated from the case, being separated from Booth and not working with him anymore, it scared her. 'I did?' she shot up her head to him.

'The report said there wasn't enough DNA in the fetal bones to determine paternity.' Cullen said.

'Senator didn't want Dr. Brennan to take that gum, he's hiding something.' Booth said.

'He didn't know there wasn't enough DNA.' Brennan explained.

Cullen was looking at the one then the other. 'I suggest the you, uh, go back to your lab, Dr. Brennan, and get used to being there.'

'Come on, Bones.' Booth said to her and they left Cullen's office. 'You're okay?' he asked as he closed the doors.

'Don't be nice to me after I got you in trouble.' they began to walk away from the office.

'You heart was in the right place.' Booth gave her some head up.

'I'm not a heart person. You're a heart person.' Brennan was again going against her personality. 'I'm a brain person…you vouched for me…' she didn't even suspect that he would do that for her.

'Forget it.' Booth simply threw.

'No, I won't.' that made Booth to stop and look her in the eyes. 'You think it was the Senator?' she asked him.

'Look, the Senator's had sex with a dozen of these interns and he hasn't killed any of them. Our best bet is still the stalker.'

'You want to check him out?' Brennan suggested. 'We can, um, what do you call it, roost him?' that brought smile to Booth's face.

'Roust. It's called roust, Bones.'

'Roust.' she repeated. 'Well, the murderer snatched the Bronze Star from Cleo's neck, so…'

'I got 12 hours before this case is over and I'm off it, so let's go roust him. Come on.'

Moments later they were at Oliver Laurier's doorstep. Oliver opened with a chain on his doors.

'Mr. Laurier, we have a warrant to search your apartm…' before Brennan was able to finish, Oliver immediately shut his door and turned around to run, but it was just a beginning.

'Don't run, Oliver.' Booth was standing in the middle of the room, doors to the balcony were already opened. Oliver was about to turned around when Booth took his wrist and twisted his arm causing him to fall. 'Open the door for the lady, will ya?' he asked and Oliver did as he was told.

'Agent Booth is under the impression that you might have something pertinent to a case he's working on.' Brennan said to Oliver as he was reading the warrant. Booth was walking around the apartment looking and searching anything that might be useful.

'You're looking for a Bronze Star? Like the one Cleo wore?' he asked Brennan lifting his sight from the warrant.

'Exactly like that one, Mr. Laurier.' Brennan replied to him.

'I don't have it.' he handed the warrant back to her.

Brennan took the paper. 'Sometimes stalkers retain keepsakes.' she explained.

'What the hell are these things?' Booth asked while walking around and picking up a small book from the box full of them on the fireplace railing.

'Miniature Lives of the Saints, okay? I hand them out…' he was in the middle of explaining himself when Booth threw it to Brennan.

'Heads up, Bones.' she caught it and gave him an annoyed look. Oliver carried on.

'I hand them out for donations, I'm not a panhandler, help yourself. I never stalked Cleo…'

'Then why'd she get a restraining order?' Brennan asked curious.

'Okay, okay, no. First of all, no.' Oliver stuttered a bit, while Booth began to walk around the apartment again. 'Ken Thompson, her supposed boyfriend, got the restraining order, with his boss, the Senator, but Ken is only concerned with his job and his tropical fish. They colluded to ruin my reputation with this specious 'stalker' label, when, in actuality…' he took a breath. '…I was Cleo's close friend.'

'Then why'd you run from the warrant?' Brennan lifter the paper.

'My fight-or-flight response is heavily weighted towards flight, if there's anything I can do to help you catch Cleo's killer, just tell me.'

'Oh, a full confession, that would be great.' Booth said sarcastically.

'I love Cleo. Why would I hurt her?'

'If you don't mind, I'm gonna keep one of those little books.' Brennan said while lifting little red pocket-size book.

'Whatever you need…Dr. Brennan.' Oliver said and suddenly Brennan's phone started to ring. Angela was on the other side.

'Come to the lab.' was all she said.

15 minutes later they were all again looking at the digital version of Cleo in Angela's Imaging Unit.

'This is a rough composite, but you get the idea.' Angela said.

'Skull trauma was not the cause of death.' Brennan said as she looked closely. 'Cleo was stabbed first, she was stabbed five to eight times with a military issue K-Bar knife.'

'I just completed this rendering, the defensive wounds to the bones of her hands suggest that it wasn't until the third or the fourth penetration…' Angela said while her created Cleo was now grappling with assailant until the view changed showing her ribcage with the knife in between.

'That's likely the fatal stab, right there.' Brennan pointed finger out.

'That Cleo stopped fighting back…' Angela suggested.

'I believe that the distinctive damage to her distal phalanges, the tips of her finger bones was caused by the murdered using the knife to remove her finger pads.' Brennan said and her words were changed into digital version of action. 'Cranial fragmentation suggests a 20-pound hammer striking four to five times while the victim's head rested on cement floor containing traces of diatomaceous earth.' Assailant was now attacking Cleo with the hammer while she remained grounded. 'That's the best explanation for the particulates found in her skull.' Brennan carried on while Angela turned off the simulation. 'This was not a crime of passion.'

'Cleo never saw the first stab coming, it didn't arise out of an argument.' Angela paused for a second. 'Why smash Cleo's face? Why whittle away her fingertips, remove her clothing and her jewellery?' Angela asked.

'Sink her body…' Zack added.

'The murderer put more effort into hiding victim's identity than he did into murder itself.' Brennan said.

'In case Cleo was identified the murder planted evidence, the little book Brennan got from the stalker matches the cellulose found in Cleo's hand.' Hodgins said after being quiet for a while.

'Military cemetery, military knife, implicates her own father, more misdirection.' Angela said and Hodgins carried on. 'Sound like any conniving son of a bitch senators you know?' he was looking at Booth until he spoke.

'You expect me to declare war on a United States Senator based on your little holographic crystal ball?'

Hodgins leaned back with a scoff. 'It's not magic' Brennan said. 'It's a logical recreation of events based on evidence.'

'It's no more valid than my gut.' Booth replied back.

'A good hypothesis withstands testing, that's what makes it a good hypothesis…' Zack tried to explain but Booth had other thought.

'This is not a hypothesis…you have a dead girl and a United States Senator, this is exactly why squints belong in the lab.' he knew that by saying this he will see daggers in their eyes, but he just had to say it. 'You guys don't know anything about the real world.' Booth said and now Brennan was looking at him, feeling offended by his words.

'Come on, we're done here.' she said coldly and together with Zack and Hodgins she left the room.

'Wow…' Booth didn't expect that his words will affect that much. 'Touchy.' he said to Angela who stayed behind.

'You must know about her family.' she began being serious. 'Both parents vanish when she was 15, that probably counts as the real world.' she walked over the table, Booth coming over too.

'Yeah, Angela, I know the story and I read the file. The cops never found out anything.'

'Yeah.' Angela whispered softly. 'Brennan figures that maybe if somebody like her had been there…'

'Well, for somebody who hates psychology, she sure has a lot of it.' Booth said. Angela and him just shared a look.

Meanwhile gun shots could be heard in the nearby shooting range where Brennan was taking her mind off the last conversation in the lab.

'Thought I'd find you here.' she heard Booth saying as she removed the ear protection and turned to him.' You know, you being a good shot and doing martial arts, it's all your way of dealing.' she turned back to targets while removing safety glasses. 'I mean, who knows better than you how fragile life can be?' Booth said and walked closer while Brennan turned back to him again.

'Maybe an Army Ranger sniper who became an FBI homicide investigator.' Brennan answered and focused her sight on the red targets again.

'Oh, you looked me up, huh?' Booth was surprised that she did as much research about him just as he did on her. 'Do you mind?' he stood beside her looking down at the gun she was shooting with.

'Be my guest.' she pushed it to the side.

'Thank you.' Booth said and took the firearm. He took a couple of seconds to aim by closing his right eye a bit. He took a shot, but it wasn't in the centre of _paper torso_, it was far away. Booth let out a disappointed groan while Brennan laughed at his shot being so _sniperless_.

'Were you any good at being a sniper?'

'A sniper gets to know a little something about killers and Senator Bethlehem, he's no killer.' Booth replied while placing the gun back and turning to see her.

'Oh, and Oliver Laurier is?' now Brennan turned to face him.

'Way I read Laurier, he's unhinged. That's makes him dangerous.' he leaned his face closer to her and leaned back stating the obvious.

'That's be your _gut_ telling you that, correct?' Brennan said with sarcasm on her face, grinning at him.

'You know, homicides? They're not solved by scientists.' he was looking at her with seriousness in his eyes. 'They're solved by guys like me asking a thousand questions a thousand times, catching people telling lies every time.' Brennan wasn't even blinking at him. 'You're great at what you do, Bones, but you don't solve murders…' Booth leaned closer to her by placing his hand on the wall behind her. 'Cops do…'

Now they were inches away, their faces were millimetres away, but that and what Booth said moments ago didn't scare Brennan, so she took her ground.

'Cleo Eller was killed on a cement floor sprinkled with diatomaceous earth. ' Booth was looking at her not breaking eye contact. 'Traces of her blood will still be in that cement, so one of us is wrong, maybe both of us, but if Bethlehem wasn't a senator, you'd be right there in his basement looking for that killing floor.' Brennan explained though teeth. 'You're afraid of him.' she carried on. 'Your hypothesis is that squints don't solve murders and cops do. Prove it. Be a cop.' her voice was now quitter and low as she wanted to bite him and make him feel the literal pain. With that she left him and the spot where she was standing. Booth was just taking her words while smiling until he turned around, pulled his own gun and shoot the head of the target, twice.

**Later that day…**

Clippings of newspapers, photos of Cleo, and all other stuff that was related to her was now spread on Booth's table in his office. There was Cleo in her graduation outfit, hugging her mum, both of them were smiling as Booth was watching them on DVD in TV. He was so focused that he didn't hear Brennan coming and standing just on the doorstep, until she knocked on the door.

'Booth?'

'They look pretty happy, don't they?' he asked, eyes not leaving the screen. Brennan entered his office, crossed her arms on her chest. 'Otherwise they wouldn't turn on the camera, I guess.' he stopped the video.

'Zack said you wanted to see me.' Brennan said after couple of seconds.

Booth looked up at her. 'Something you don't like to talk about, families…'

Brennan let out a sigh and turned to walk away from his office, knowing where this was going again, not looking forward to talk about it.

'Temperance…' Booth was serious this time by using her name and not nickname. '…partners, they share things. Builds trust.' he was now teaching basics of partnership and how they should work. She turned back to him with crossed arms and sarcastic smile.

'Since when are we partners?' she bit him.

'I apologize for the assumption.' he said and took folded paper from his desk. He then unfolded it and handed to Brennan. She came even closer and took it.

'You got a warrant to search Bethlehem's place?'

'You were right, if Bethlehem wasn't a senator, I'd be in that basement, looking for that killing floor.' he looked down on his desk. 'But you're wrong.' he pointed a finger to her. 'I was never afraid of that guy and I'm not doing this because you're genius.' that caused Brennan's eyebrows relax as well as there was a smile on her face. Genuine one. 'I'm doing this for Cleo.' Booth finished and turned to TV. Again, he pressed play on video tape and Cleo with her mother were smiling to each other again.

**More later that day…**

It was late evening, however one place was full of people in and out. Media reporters outside and FBI agents inside. That is Senator's estate we are talking about.

'Sir, it's John Ferris. Channel 11. Sir!' and other similar type of shouts could be heard between the reporters and media associates.

Brennan was standing in the middle of the yard and wasn't paying attention to the hubbub behind her as she was focusing at the entrance of the house were Senator, his wife and Ken Thompson were standing.

'The warrant says they're searching for blood traces, a sledgehammer and diatomaceous earth.' Ken read the paper. FBI were walking in and out of the building.

'What the hell is that?' Senator asked having no clue. That nearly brought a scoff to Brennan as she was listening on their conversation. Ken just looked around and folded the warrant.

'You're making a big mistake.' Ken said as he stood in front of Brennan and left, though she didn't reply, she took a sigh and turned to right where Booth was standing with Furst, the latter obviously annoyed that Booth was interfering with _his_ case.

'I'm in charge…You come in and mess up my investigation…' Furst was angry, but Booth didn't listen.

'Care to make a statemen, Senator?' someone asked from the crowd behind the gates. Senator Bethlehem, can you just answer a couple questions?' someone else asked and Brennan turned around like she had a feeling someone was watching her but not the scene in front of her.

She could not believe. Oliver Laurier was standing there, waving at her and smiling, book in his arms that was one of hers.

'What are you doing here?' Brennan began to walk till gates didn't allow to go further.

'Look at him.' Oliver began with calm voice. 'For all his politics, he's got nothing. He should've loved Cleo properly, like I would've. Will you sign my book?' he asked out of nowhere while handing forward it towards her.

'Stalk me, Oliver, and I will kick your ass.' Brennan warned him and returned to her previous spot until couple of FBI people were walking out of the house, one of them was carrying a sledgehammer packed into the evidence bag.

'I don't recognize that, that is not mine.' Senator tried to defend himself. Agents walked past Brennan and she only followed the possible murder weapon with her eyes.

Booth finished his _unfriendly_ chat with Furst and walked to Brennan.

'At least we've got the hammer.' she said to him.

'Yeah, but that's all we got.' Booth said disappointed.

'Cement floor in the basement?' Brennan tried again.

'Yeah, but no blood, no diatomaceous earth. We needed a trifecta, Bones…physical evidence, murder weapon, crime scene.' with that he walked away leaving Brennan alone to decide whether to stay or get back to the lab, she chose the second.

**Jeffersonian…**

Brennan managed to come back in relatively short time, she didn't want to go back home though it was already late evening, maybe an hour left till midnight. Most of the people left the Institute already just couple of security guards walking together, chatting and making the security checks before leaving the place. As she was walking down to her office, lost in her thoughts about today's events, she heard voices and sounds of glass clinking together. It came from the upper mezzanine above her office where workers of Jeffersonian are having lunch and taking breaks. Curious who it was she walked up the stairs and saw her colleagues, by the looks of it, having drink from a lab glassware.

'Hey…' Angela turned and saw her coming closer. Once Brennan took a seat next to Zack, she told them everything about what they have found in Senator's house. After she finished Zack was the first to ask.

'They wouldn't even arrest him?'

'Don't worry.' Hodgins assured him. 'If that's the hammer used on Cleo Eller, he'll get arrested.' he leaned forward to reach a drink. 'A toast…' others followed him. '…to getting the bastard murderous bastard.' he clinked glasses with Zack and Angela while Brennan took a sip and frowned her face, not expecting that kind of taste.

'The hammer's not enough.' she said after swallowing the last bits that were in her mouth. 'He's going to get away with it. Maybe booth is right, maybe outside the lab, I'm useless…' she bit the glass stick.

'Let us take guidance from The Lives of the Saints.' Hodgins picked up the little red book, the same book Brennan took from Oliver.

'Albertus magnus, Patron Saint of Scientists.' Angela read when Hodgins handed her the book.

'I thought Magnus was the patron saint of fishmongers.' Zack said .

'Two separate entities. Albertus Magnus was a 13th century philosopher. The fishmonger saint was…' Hodgins explained but Brennan cut him off.

'Fish!' she shouted. The other three looked at her not knowing why she said that. 'You said that diatomaceous earth could be used as a filtering agent.' Brennan was looking directly to Hodgins.

'Yeah, for swimming pools water filters…' he agreed.

'Or tropical fish?' Brennan wanted them to understand her discovery, so she explained further. 'Oliver Laurier said that Ken Thompson kept fish…' she immediately stood up, dropping everything she had in her hands.

'What's your hurry?' Angela asked.

'Thompson read the warrant, he knows we're looking for diatomaceous earth.' she said while putting her coat on. 'Get in touch with Booth. Tell him where I'm going, okay?' she gave them instructions and left the floor quickly.

Angela looked at Hodgins. 'She didn't actually say where she was going, did she?'

'We should call Booth, she had alcohol, it can't be good…' Hodgins said.

'I'll call him.' Angela said.

**FBI Bureau**

Though it was late evening, the Bureau wasn't completely empty as there were couple of windows highlighted from inside.

'Booth, I warned you…' Cullen said. 'You and your squint are out of this case, Furst is in charge and you had no right to be there and interfere…' he was angry with the situation that occurred in Senator's place.

'I know, sir, but…' Booth tried to explain himself, but Cullen cut him off. 'You do realize you just broke the protocol for what you can be fired…'

'I'm absolutely aware of it, but there we found the hammer that…' Booth said, but Cullen cut him off again.

'That doesn't matter now. You do something like this one more time, I'll have no choice, but to evacuate your office, Booth. Do you understand?'

'Yes, sir.' Booth replied, stood up and was about to leave when his phone began to buzz in his pocket.

'Booth.' he picked up. Cullen looked at him. 'Woah, woah, woah, slow down now, what happened?' it appeared that Angela was in the rush to tell Booth everything quickly. 'She went where…?' Booth wanted to understand, but Angela had different plans to make it worse. 'She drank what…?!' Booth shouted and Cullen slightly jumped in his chair. 'I'm going there now…' Booth hung up and was about to leave when Cullen stopped him.

'No, you're not Booth, I told you.'

'With all due respect, sir, Dr. Brennan is still my partner and she might be in danger.' Booth said as a matter of fact, not thinking about the fact that they have been terminated and might not be working together anymore, but he didn't give a crap. '_It's my responsibility to protect her_.' he thought and remembered their last case and how she explained about protection in partnership between man and woman while interrogating a suspect. And even now when he agreed to take her out on the field, only now things got a bit complicated. Cullen just let out a sigh and didn't say anything else until Booth was gone and on his way to Thompson's house.

Brennan was already there trying to see through the windows if anyone was inside. Luckily, she spotted Ken, surrounded by fish tanks and pouring something on the floor from red canister.

'Stop!' she shouted as she tapped the window to get his attention. 'You can't destroy evidence.' But Ken just looked at her and carried on what he was doing. Brennan knew she had to go inside so she walked up to the front door with glass, took one of empty vases and broke the glass closest to the lock. Then she entered the house from outside.

Ken heard he coming in. 'This is a private residence. I don't suppose you have a warrant?'

Brennan spotted him in one of the rooms. 'I'm working with the FBI. If I have reasonable suspicion of a crime being committed, I don't need a warrant.' she explained.

'What crime?' Ken asked irritated.

'Destruction of evidence pertinent to a federal investigation.'

'I'm just cleaning up.' he simply said as he walked closer to her, his nose frowned. 'Is that alcohol I smell on your breath?' Brennan leaned back away from him and looked on the floor.

'This linoleum looks fairly new.' she clicked the floor with her high heels while Ken carried on, ignoring her. 'What's underneath? Cement?' she asked as she looked back at him. 'The same cement that was embedded in Cleo's skull when you bashed her head in.'

Ken didn't listen to her. 'You might want to get out of here.'

'I can't let you destroy evidence.' Brennan reminded him what she was after.

'How are you going to stop me?'

'I'll stop you.' she said seriously and Ken just laughed at her.

'Not before I burn this place down with you in it.' he took a lighter from his pocket and turned it on. Flame appeared on it and Brennan took no time as she pulled a revolver from behind and shot Ken in the leg. He fell on the ground yelling in pain while Brennan came closer to him still pointing the gun.

'I don't get it. It wasn't jealousy, it wasn't passion, Cleo wouldn't get rid of your boss's baby, so you got rid of her.' she said while Ken was groaning and grapping his leg. 'What kind of psychology is that? What kind of person are you?'

'Temperance.' a voice from her right side appeared and immediately she turned while pointing the gun at the source of sound. Oliver was standing there with his hands up.' Are you all right?'

'_How did he get here and how did he know where to come?' _she thought. 'Oliver, I understand you're here out of a misguided concern for my safety, but I apparently don't read people very well, and you could be in some kind of psychotic collusion with Ken, so I'm going to ask you to go over there…' at this point Booth entered the room with his gun and stood behind Oliver, but Brennan carried on speaking if not faster. '…and apply pressure to his wound until the police get here, you understand?'

'Okay, okay.' he agreed, although one thing bothered him. 'Did he kill Cleo?'

'Yeah. He killed Cleo.' Booth replied from behind making Oliver to turn his head.

'Okay…then I'm down with him bleeding to death.' Oliver wanted him dead for what he has done.

'That guy bleeds to death, Bones will go on trial for attempted murder.' Booth said while putting his gun back in holster. Brennan was still on adrenaline as she looked at them three, her look jumping from one person to another. 'You don't want that, now, do you?' Booth asked.

Oliver was looking at Brennan. 'I wouldn't want that.' he shook his head.

'No. Besides, you know, uh, applying pressure, that can be very painful.' Booth said while Oliver lowered his arms and walked over the guy he wish to be dead.

Brennan had her gun pointed at Ken as she watched Oliver making his way. 'The evidence said he did it, but…I don't know why…you know what?' she waved with her gun around making Booth to lean away in case she pull the trigger. 'Motive does not matter.'

'He did it to save his job.'

'His job?'

'Yeah, senator in scandal, he'll lose the beltway fast track. It's that simple, it's…' he carefully approached Brennan and gently took the firearm from her hands. '_How the hell did she get a gun?' _he thought. 'It's a tough town.' he said.

Brennan sighed in relief once the gun was out of her reach. 'Yeah, it is a tough town.'

Booth placed his arm on her higher back directing her to walk with him. 'Yeah, you know in the future, uh, maybe I should do the shooting.'

She looked up at him. 'Why? I'm a good shot.'

Booth didn't say anything while examining the revolver. Once they were outside, Brennan felt relief as there were FBI and Ambulance cars standing next to the entrance. Those guys will take care of things here.

'C'mon, let's get you home.' Booth said while walking over his SUV, Brennan was near her own car.

'What? I can drive myself…' she said.

'With alcohol in your system?'

'How did you kno-?'

'Doesn't matter.' Booth cut her. 'Just get in the car.'

Brennan stood there for a while as she was looking at her own vehicle. 'What about my car? You think I will leave it here?'

'I'll get someone to drive it back for you.' he said and she reluctantly took a seat next to him.

**Next morning…**

'Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love…' Reverend read from the Bible as people were gathered around ready-to-be-buried coffin covered in flowers, single photo of a young woman was placed on top.

Brennan, Zack, Goodman, Booth, Hodgins and Angela were standing in the line from the close distance of the coffin, listening to Reverend's speech. Parents of Cleo and the ones closest were there to mourn and make farewells.

'Where there is injury, pardon…' Reverend carried on and with that Brennan moved from the line making her way to the coffin. Booth and Hodgins followed her with sight, though no one noticed Oliver standing behind the people, he was there, looking miserable.

Brennan took a single rose from the vase and placed it on the coffin, among others. Some of bystanders were watching her, she just leaned back and took a look at the photo of Cleo. Then she moved away and slowly made her way through the cemetery.

'Is the FBI gonna lay charges against Brennan?' Angela asked worried.

'She only shot him in the leg…once.' Hodgins said as he turned to look at Booth as he would know the outcome of Brennan's actions.

'She didn't give him a warning, she just shot him with alcohol on her breath.' Booth linked his head to Goodman.

'It was her first shooting.' Goodman defended Brennan. 'You can't expect her to be perfect right out of the gate.'

'How much warning did you give people before you sniped them?' Zack was the last to speak and his words were meant for Booth. He and Goodman turned to Zack while he remained still, knowing his question made a complete sense.

Booth made a small smile and excused himself from the line walking towards the coffin, but mainly walking the same direction Brennan was walking.

'Where there's doubt, faith. Where there's despair, hope. Where there's darkness, light.' Reverend said although Booth and Brennan were far enough not to hear them. Together they walked further.

Booth just let out a sigh and Brennan turned to see him.

'What?'

He quickly looked at her. 'I told you it wasn't the Senator.'

'And I told you who it was, so we're even.' she compromised.

'Except we work on the same cases, and you end up on the New York Times bestsellers list…' he whispered last couple words and she immediately turned to him.

'I didn't know that.'

'Mm-hmm. Number three with a bullet.'

'That's good, right?' she asked feeling excited. 'The New York Times, with a bullet?'

'Means you're rich, call your accountant.' he advised her.

'I don't have an accountant.' she laughed at his solution.

'Well, get one.' he was keeping up.

'Okay, how does that work?' she asked completely clueless.

'Wow, you need to get out of the lab, you know? Watch TV, turn on a radio, anything…pick up the phone and…' he was trying to civilize her until she turned around to look at the burial place. Booth followed her lead.

'Where there is sadness, joy. Oh, Divine Master, grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving…' Reverend was still reading though Booth and Brennan barely were able to hear, one thing was there right in front – Ellers were slowly approaching the coffin with roses in their reach. Once they placed them on the coffin, they turned to each other and slowly made their way back, feeling relieved that the mystery behind their daughter's disappearance was finally solved.

'You know, if it weren't for you…' Booth spoke to get her attention from the scene. '…those people would never have known what happened to their daughter.' Brennan turned to face him. 'That's got to be worse than the truth.'

'I know exactly how the Ellers felt about Cleo.' Brennan said still observing the view in front of her. 'My parents disappeared when I was 15, and nobody knows what happened to them…' hearing this from Angela was one thing for Booth, but now listening the same thing Brennan said was completely different. '_She is doing progress, a small one, but still…' _Booth thought.

'Being a sniper, I…' he began thinking how to say. '…took a lot of lives. What I'd like to do before I'm done is try and catch at least that many murderers.'

Brennan chuckled at his statement as it was impossible to achieve. 'Please, you don't think there's some kind of…cosmic balance sheet.' she said smiling and Booth hung his head down. Brennan saw him and thought for a moment before speaking. 'I'd like to help you with that.' she said seriousness on her face.

Booth looked at her for a second. 'Eh…' he muttered like it wasn't a big deal. Brennan laughed at his reply and together they walked down the path leaving the cemetery grounds.

'You hungry? I know a nice place…' Booth said while placing his sun glasses.

'Knock it off, Booth…' Brennan said and playfully showed him away from herself.

* * *

**Now, don't judge me so bad, since it's my first time writing that kind of type...Just let me know what you think, so I will know what to focus on...**


	3. The Man in The SUV

'Bones!' Booth shouted and walked further. 'Bones, over here!' he called her to come.

'Where have you been? You said you'd meet us on the corner.' she said annoyed with her hands showed to the sides. Angela was walking behind her.

'There's a lot going on, in case you haven't noticed.' Booth said and actually it was true.

Earlier this morning, car exploded near the café injuring and killing some of the bystanders. Police, medics and firefighters were already there doing what they needed to do. Alongside with them there was also reporters walking with cameras form the media. Bystanders were watching the scene behind police placed stands. Basically, the street was full of people.

'These girls, they're with me…' Booth began as three of them approached the police officer who was guarding the explosion area. 'Dr. Temperance Brennan, Angela Montenegro from the Jeffersonian.' Booth was about to walk further when officer stopped them.

'I need ID.' he said.

'Check the RI-5 list, Homeland Security. She's their forensic anthropologist.' Booth replied and helped to find their names on the list officer had with him.

'They're clear.' he confirmed once he marked their names.

'Thanks.' Booth said and Brennan walked past them. 'Come on.' he let Angela walk through too.

'God, what's that smell?' Angela asked in disgust.

Brennan turned to her while tying her hair into ponytail. 'Burnt flesh, are there a lot of injuries?' she asked Booth.

'Four known dead, 15 injured.'

'Oh, my God…' Angela muttered once the scene was in front of them.

There was burned car or what was left of it, parts of it were scattered around with evidence numbers marked. Although, the firefighters put the fire there was still some thin smoke coming out. Next to it was a body covered in white sheet with one leg missing. The view was horrible.

'Details. Whatever you have.' Brennan stepped forward while turning to Booth.

'Not much. Witnesses said they saw a Middle-Eastern man, mid-30s, pull up to the café, and the car just blew.' Booth followed Brennan while Angela looked like she was sick, so she took her time adjusting and followed them soon after.

'The vehicle's registered to Hamid Masruk…' Booth looked down to his notes. '…head of the Arab-American Friendship League.'

Brennan walked to the driver's side of the car to take a closer look the remains. 'If you know who it is, why do you need me?' she asked already thinking it's only waste of time, so the case could be closed just right now.

'Because we're hoping we're wrong.' Bennett Gibson said as he approached Brennan from the other side. Brennan turned to look at him. 'Masruk is a White House consultant in Arab relations. Had lunch with the president just last week.' Gibson explained as it wouldn't be enough to know.

'You remember Agent Gibson, Homeland Security? Dr. Temperance Brennan and Angela Montenegro.' Booth re-introduced them as if they needed introduction.

They have _met, _like a week ago and in not very pleasing circumstances and the outcome was that Gibson got beaten by Brennan in airport. So, as Booth was speaking, Gibson was making his way carefully around Brennan remembering what happened between them the last time. Angela was looking at them, trying not to bring the attention to herself.

'If Masruk was involved in a terrorist attack, it means we have a huge national security problem.' Booth carried on while following Brennan.

'Not to mention a very humiliated president.' Gibson said while Brennan made her way to the other side of the car. Angela followed her. 'The press is already running with this.' he took off his sunglasses.

'If you think I'm going to alter my…' Brennan began and Gibson rushed to calm her down. 'Not at all, but maybe it's not Masruk. We need to be sure.' Gibson said with a hope in his voice. 'Booth says you're the best.' Brennan lifted her eyebrows at Booth, but he played cool and ignored her look.

'I need surgical gloves and masks for the retrieval team, sterile medical bags and vegetable oil.' Brennan said once she leaned back away from the remains of the car.

'Vegetable oil?' Booth asked just to confirm if he had heard her correctly.

'The oil will loosen the seared body parts stuck to the metal.' Brennan explained to him as Booth was walking up to her. 'It's no different than a steak on a grill that sticks.'

By the time she finished speaking Zack came to them from the Institute truck carrying oil in his hands. Brennan handed it to Booth while she put the gloves on.

'It's okay, you know, I trust you.' Booth said sceptically.

'Should I photograph the scene?' Zack asked.

'Focus on a 30-meter radius from the blast.' Brennan gave him directions.

Zack came back to them with a camera and red lab bag for body parts. Brennan placed the bag under her armpit while Zack began to take photos.

'Okay to pick up?' she asked Booth and he just made a small nod in agreement. However, Brennan was standing and looking at the lower part of the leg that was stuck inside the doors of the car.

'It's okay to be upset.' Booth noticed her just standing and staring.

'I wish this is the worst thing I've seen.' Brennan said as she put the second glove on and looked up at him and handed the bag to Angela, though she looked as she wasn't ready for this.

'You know, uh…' Angela began and both Booth and Brennan turned to her. 'I don't think I can, uh…sorry…' with that she left the scene before handing bag to Booth. Brennan, on the other hand, wasn't affected by this and just bend down to retrieve the part of human remains.

'Well, if you can't either…' Brennan saw his face and was sure he will do the same thing Angela did just seconds ago.

'I'm cool.' he assured her and spread the bag wider. Brennan looked at him once again and placed piece of remains into the bag. Then she walked over Zack who was taking photos of the car now.

'Zack, I need two more evidence bags.

'_Now this is just great…' _Booth thought. He just stood there with vegetable oil in one hand and burned piece of human leg in the other.

**Hour later…Jeffersonian.**

'Facial epidermis and the fingertips are completely decimated. We're not going to be able to ID anything from the flesh. It's basically carbon…' Brennan said while looking at the remains on the table.

Hodgins and Zack were assisting her once the crime scene was cleaned and all the necessary stuff was moved back here.

'We're missing the lower left leg and the lumbar spine.' Zack said. Behind him Hodgins was preparing for his work.

'Here's C2 and the right ischium.' Brennan identified some of the bones from the remains.

'If Smokey here had access to the president, why would he attack a café?'

'Smokey?' Brennan asked.

'It's how I deal with stress.' Zack explained.

'Targeting everyday places causes panic. People stay home. The economy is crippled…it's Terrorism 101, man.' Hodgins spoke still being behind Zack.

'Take samples from the clothes, see whatever you can find, traces of cologne, laundry detergent, anything that we can link to Masruk's home.' Brennan said to Hodgins as he came closer to the table while Zack just stepped on the side.

'I'll grab any particulates that can identify type of bomb.' Hodgins said as he and Brennan switched places across the remains.

'Isn't that the FBI's job?' Zack asked he was collecting pieces himself. Hodgins just laughed at his question.

'You trust the FBI?' he looked at Zack. 'You realize those guys are gonna suppress whatever they need to cover their asses…'

'Found a portion of the clavicle.' Zack announced as he wasn't paying attention to Hodgins.

'Are you even listening?' Hodgins wanted to confirm it.

'No.' Zack replied straight away.

'They have a separate division, you know.' Hodgins still carried on, despite the answer Zack gave him. 'That way their hands are always clean. In 1974…'

'Jack!' Brennan couldn't take his rambling anymore. 'We're trying to work…' she said.

'Someone seems really defensive about the FBI lately. You realize Booth is just another government stooge…' Hodgins tried to argue and was too busy to notice how Brennan's look moved to his right side.

Booth and Gibson entered the platform and stood silently behind Hodgins.

'This has nothing to do with Booth.' Brennan defended him.

'You know…I don't enjoy having squints on my team any more than you like me on yours.' Booth was now speaking directly to curly back of Jack's head which made him to face Booth himself.' But, you know, we're supposed to be working together. Okay…?'

Brennan's face just frowned while Zack was still busy doing his collecting thing.

'Sure.' Hodgins nodded his head while trying to be calm in front of Booth. 'So what do we do? Group hug?' he tried to bite him and was about to give Booth an actual hug when he was stopped by the hand on his chest.

'Agent Gibson here will be overseeing things for Homeland Security.' Booth explained to the group once he stopped Hodgins.

'I'll try not to be in the way.' Gibson quickly said to make sure he will be peaceful person here, but Brennan wasn't the fan of this idea.

'We don't need to be overseen.'

'That's really not your call, Bones.' Booth was looking at the remains. 'Okay, how soon can we get the DNA match?' he tried to make the chat as casual as possible here.

'That'll take days. I can get a match much sooner that that. I have all we need.'

'You gonna be able to ID him from that?' Gibson pointed his finger to the table as he didn't believe that was possible.

Both Hodgins and Zack looked up at him. The look Hodgins had meant that he would punch Gibson in the face.

'Asking stuff like this is _in the way_.' Zack said as a matter of fact.

'Remove any flesh and particulates you can, and then macerate him.' Brennan said as she moved away to leave the platform. Gibson walked away from the table too. 'If that's all right with you?' she asked once they were face to face. Once she left Booth waved his hand to Gibson meaning he will take care of her. Gibson moved to stand at the end of the table.

'Don't touch the table. Don't touch the table!' Hodgins warned him as Gibson was about to lean forward.

As soon as Brennan and Booth left the platform, they began their own war.

'This is my lab, I'm a scientist, a doctor.' Brennan said as Booth caught up with her.

'Yeah, so I've heard.' Booth said. They were walking now directly to Brennan's office.

'Would you be able to do your job is someone was looking over your shoulder all the time?' she said annoyed while turning to him, her fingers squeezed into fists.

'We do. I developed a tolerance.' he said once she turned her back to him.

'Sorry, but I don't understand the advantage of compromise.'

'It's a terrorist attack, Bones.' he tried to explain her how serious this case was. 'It's bigger than you, and it's bigger than me…' he pointed his finger, but Brennan didn't want to listen to him.

'No, the job is the same.'

'No, it's not!' Booth argued with raised voice. 'We're dealing with someone here who devalues an entire culture, terrorizing people by using God to justify mass murder.'

'You're making it personal…' Brennan was now standing on the step of her office, hands on the frame of the door. 'That doesn't help.' she added.

'It is personal, Bones. All of us die a little bit on one like this.' Booth said calmly and Brennan just sighed. 'Come on…' he urged her to leave the office.

'All the trace evidence has been stripped. Hodgins scavenged as much as he could.' Zack said to them once they entered the room. He had clipboard in his hands while Gibson was looking at the lab stuff in shelves.

'Okay, let's get started.' Brennan said as she was looking at the remains which were now placed in the plastic box.

At her words, Zack turned around and placed the clipboard on the table, then he reached for two full jars of something…moving in it. He then placed them on the box and slided the box open.

'What the hell are those?' Booth asked as he watched Zack pouring the content of one jar into the box and on remains. Gibson was looking at the process too.

'Dermestes maculatus.' Zack said.

'Flesh-eating beetles.' Brennan explained. 'It's how we clean the bones of burn victims.'

Booth bent forward to examine beetles on the remains while Brennan walked over to stand next to Gibson. His phone began to ring. Zack just poured another jar of those creatures.

'Gibosn.' he answered the phone. 'Yes, sir. Yes, sir.' he hung up. 'The president wants to know how long the ID is going to take.' he said to Brennan.

'Why don't you ask them?' she linked her head towards the feast table beetles were having right in front of them.

**3 hours later…FBI Bureau, Interrogation Room**

'You've made a mistake.' Sahar Masruk said while looking at both Brennan and Booth. 'It can't be my husband.'

'My brother was no terrorist.' man beside Sahar spoke. 'He hated those people. You can read his speeches, talk to anyone.' Farid defended his brother.

'We aren't making any accusations.' Booth rushed to calm them down.

'It's all over the news. It's all anyone's talking about.

'We can't control the press, Mr. Masruk.' Booth said apologetically and looked at Brennan, she remained still.

'How about your men?' Sahar asked and Farid turned to look at her. 'They've searched our house. They've talked to our friends.' her voice was full of despair.

'Until we can identify the body, we have to conduct a thorough investigation. ' his and Brennan's eyes met.

'So identify the body. The longer you wait…' Sahar eyes were in tears. 'Do you know what it's like for us?'

'His body was fragmented by the blast.' Brennan went straight forward not caring about any empathy. 'We're still retrieving pieces…' she carried on until Booth's leg kicked hers in a meaning to stop. That made Sahar sobs become more noticeable. Brennan took a couple of seconds to think what to say next.

'I understand how difficult this is, not knowing.' she looked up at Sahar being honest now. 'I'll work as quickly as I can to get you what you need. 'she assured. Booth nodded his head in approval and looked at Sahar as well.

'That's why I asked for his history, where he grew up, any injuries from his youth, medical records…'

Sahar nodded. 'Of course…' she handed a thin package she had with herself since they were called in here. Brennan took it. 'I brought what you asked for.'

'Thank you.' Booth said.

'We lived just like you.' Sahar began. 'We came to this country because we love it. We are Americans.' she looked at Booth. 'It can't be Hamid.' then she turned to Brennan. 'It can't.' he eyes moved to Booth again. 'My husband was not a terrorist.' she wanted to make them believe her. Farid's eyes were jumping from Booth to Brennan.

'You may go now. Thank you.' Booth didn't know how to finish this, so called interrogation, though it sounded quite awkward. Once Sahar and Farid left, Booth turned to Brennan.

'Should I take you to the lab?'

'Yeah…' she said while looking though the papers Sahar gave her. 'I want to check the remains…and this…' she slightly shook the papers in her hand.

**45 minutes later… Jeffersonian…**

Both Hodgins and Zack were working at one workstation outside the platform. Gibson walked around nervously, looking forward to get any information on the remains.

'Could be a perchlorate.' Zack said. 'Wouldn't that be used in a bomb?' he added.

'Yeah, but this is a crystalline structure…' Hodgins was looking over the screen. '…aluminium-based…' he didn't finish as both he and Zack looked up at Gibson who was now leaning over the plastic and glass wall that was covering the table. Without moving their sights from him, Hodgins turned away the screen while Zack closed the case folder. Gibson saw this as no chance of getting anything useful.

'Okay, I'm back.' Brennan announced her return as soon as she saw the trio. Gibson turned as he was about to ask her something. 'How are we doing?' she asked as she got closer.

'We have his detergent brand, cologne, shampoo.' Zack said as he handed folder to her. 'He died a well-groomed man.' he added.

'Thanks…' Brennan took it and walked away.

'Dr. Brennan.' Gibson tried to get his attention but failed.

'The bones done yet?' she asked as she immediately turned, ignoring Gibson on the way. He just stood still awkwardly.

'I'll check the beetles.' Zack said quickly and left.

'Dr. Brennan, whatever you have there…' Gibson tried again, and this time Brennan responded to him.

'It's a piece of paper, that's all, with some writing on it…' she simply said while lifting the stuff she had in the air and making her way to her own office.

Moments later papers with photos were spread on the carpet in Brennan's office. As well as Brennan herself, she was sitting on the same carpet, box of biscuits in her lap.

'Hard at work?' Angela asked as she entered and observed the view in front of her. Brennan turned to her and took a bite of her snack. 'There's a shocker.' Angela continued.

Brennan turned back to papers in front of her. 'I just saw his wife.' she remembered the interrogation time in the Bureau. 'She gave me his medical records, photographs…' she turned back to Angela. 'Apparently, he was ill.' she announced. 'They were testing him for lupus which would explain the face…' Angela slightly nodded her head. 'It must've been painful.' she carried on.

'Look, I…' Angela started, feeling anxious inside. 'I know that you needed help out there…' she meant the time they first arrived at the explosion scene and how Angela couldn't take the view of it. '…at the crime scene…and I wanted to, but…'

'It's okay.' Brennan assured her. 'You see it. I don't anymore and I don't know what's worse.' she admitted and got up making her way to sit on the couch, snack box in her hand.

'You holding up okay?' Angela asked while taking a seat next to her.

'His wife doesn't believe it was him. I've got to give her an ID.'

'Whatever I can do.' Angela offered her help.

'Yeah, I know.' Brennan bent her head to the side.

'And about this weekend…' Angela began.

'Angela, I don't know.'

'Oh, come on, Brennan. I know this great club…'

'I don't know.' Brennan said like she was begging Angela to stop talking about that.

But Angela carried on, ignoring Brennan's pleads. '…they play trip-hop and trance…'

'I don't know what that means.' Brennan said honestly.

'It doesn't matter…we'll grab Booth…' Angela began explaining her plans.

'No.' said Brennan without thinking twice, her eyes become bigger upon hearing Booth's name. It was the last thing she wanted – to get embarrassed in front of him.

'I think he likes you.' Angela gave her opinion. 'God, if I were you, I'd buy a ticket on that ride.'

'Look, I'm going to be very busy this weekend.' Brennan said seriously. 'Even after the ID, I have these…' she motioned the boxes full of sets of bones and skulls on the couch.

'Remains from World War I?' Angela couldn't believe this.

'That's what the Institute pays me for. I've got hundreds of these waiting…' Brennan looked over the boxes.

'And they can't wait one more weekend?' she tried to find a compromise with her friend.

'They've got relatives.' Brennan was persisted. 'They've waited long enough.'

'It's not that scary, Brennan. You have a few drinks, you move to the music…you might even smile.' Angela explained and Brennan just smiled at her speech, last words to be honest. Knock on the doors brought them back from their chat.

'The bones are clean.' Zack was standing on the step.

'I've got to run.' Brennan said upon seeing him. 'You hang around, I may need you.' she got up and grabbed her blue lab coat on her way.

'Why don't I just come over right now, huh?' Angela said and got up as well.

**Bones' room…**

'Comparing remains to details provided of Hamid Masruk, age 37, of Afghani origin. Texture of pubic symphysis indicates age of bone consistent with Masruk, as is height.' Brennan was walking around the table where cleaned bones were placed in tidy order. She was recording her speech as a necessary part of case file. Gibson who literally had enough _hanging_ with Hodgins and Angela were standing next to the remains.

'Complexity of the cranial vault sutures matches a statistical probability of Eurasian descent…' she let Zack to speak into the recorder.

'Good.' she said while looking at him.

'Too bad we can't tell why he did it.' Angela said, she had her paper pad in hands. 'Isn't that what we all really want to know?' Both Zack and Brennan turned to look at her.

'Uneven growth patterns in the vertebrae indicate malnourishment as a child.' Brennan carried on speaking into recorder.

'Consistent with the diet where Masruk was from.' Zack placed the bone back to its place. 'Probably evident on the calvarium?'

'Why don't you reconstruct the skull, check it out?'

'My first cranial reconstruction.' Zack's face lit up upon hearing those words, he squeezed his fist in the air.

'Evidence of multiple fractures to the bottoms of the feet consistent with the methods of torture used in Afghanistan and consistent with Masruk's history.' Brennan recorded details. 'I'm convinced.' she moved the recorder away and sighed. 'We have a statistical match.' she switched the recorder off. Gibson was looking at her all this time.

'So Masruk is the bomber?' he asked hoping that it's not true. 'What about the skull?' he didn't want to give up. 'You're having the kid reconstruct…'

'This is an educational institute.' Brennan cut him off in order to defend her assistant. 'He wants to learn. Is that okay with you?' she asked like it wasn't a big deal. 'For a forensic ID, we have all we need.' she walked over Angela. 'Now I'd like to get this data to Booth as soon as I can.' she was on her way to leave, but Gibson stood in her path.

'I'll take it.' he offered hand moved his arm forward.

'No, I don't think so, I work with Booth. That's my deal.' she stopped to explain.

'Dr. Brennan, I have jurisdiction…'

'Then why don't I destroy my notes and let you guarantee the identity of the remains?' she smiled at her reply and walked past him, not waiting for his own reply.

'It's best to just ride it out… like an earthquake.' Angela said once she stood next to him. Gibson just looked at her without anything to add.

**Booth's place…**

Knocking on the door could be heard through the entire apartment.

'Hold on…' Booth said and walked while fixing his button shirt. He walked closer and opened the doors.

'Bones?' he didn't expect her.

'Yeah.' she said confirming his words though she looked a bit dazzled by the view of Booth's opened shirt and what was shown underneath it.

'Did we have an appointment?' he asked, not noticing her look and making sure to find out the reason of her late visit, fingers reaching over the buttons of shirt.

'No, I…' Brennan started as she entered and Booth closed the doors behind her. 'It's him.' she was handing him the folder while he turned to face her. 'Masruk is the bomber.'

Booth managed to seal couple of buttons together before taking the folder from Brennan.

'I guess the wife didn't know the husband very well.' Booth said while looking over the report.

'Hey.' blonde woman entered their conversation, she had one of Booth's button shirts on her with black bra underneath it. Her body leaned over the drawer.

Both Booth and Brennan looked up. Brennan gasped and almost let out a small laugh while seeing something that she didn't expect to see.

'Hi, sorry…' Brennan bend her head down and reached to rub her nose. Booth placed the folder down and carried on buttoning his shirt.

'Tessa, this is Brennan. Tessa Jankow, Dr. Temperance Brennan.' Booth made some kind of introduction between the two.

'Oh, hi.' Tessa recognized Brennan, moved forward and extended her hand to greet. 'I've heard a lot about you.' she admitted.

'Really…' Brennan shook hands with her and turned to Booth as if knowing he was the reason behind it.

'Tessa's an attorney.' Booth explained.

'Corporate.' Tessa added and winked at Booth. 'Keeping the fat cats fat.'

'I was just studying a cranial fissure on a corporate attorney last week.' Brennan said calmly. 'Of course, he was…dead, so…' she didn't know how to finish it.

'Interesting.' Tessa tried to keep the conversation going.

'Thanks.' was all Brennan said.

Moment of silence stood behind two women and only sound of Booth zipping up his pants could be heard which made Brennan to turn away with amazement in her face.

'Well the Bureau…'Booth began not noticing Brennan's uncomfortable facial expression due to his actions. 'I was just heading to the Bureau. Santana called, said, uh, something about the bombing…' he walked between them to retrieve his coat. '…and I thought you were at the lab.'

Tessa turned to smirk at Brennan, though she was looking at Booth collecting his stuff trying to ignore Tessa and her provocative look.

'Maybe, uh, you should come.' he said while looking back at her and standing in front of Tessa.

'Sure…' Brennan was glad to finally be in the movement, she didn't like being between two people who were romantically involved. And her thoughts were confirmed.

'See you later?' Booth asked Tessa and she gave him an agreement in whisper. The two shared a kiss while Brennan stood there, right at the doors, with the wish to leave now. She opened the doors while Booth picked up the folder Brennan brought him earlier and together they left.

Once they were outside, Brennan relaxed and grinned the whole way to the Bureau. Booth was feeling uncomfortable due to Brennan's behaviour. Until they reached the Bureau and took the elevator, Booth couldn't take it anymore.

'What is so funny?' he asked as elevator opened.

'I just never figured you'd be in a relationship.' Brennan laughed as they both left the elevator.

'Why? Do you think something's wrong with me?'

'No, not wrong. You just have _alpha male _attributes usually associated with a solitary existence…' she explained as split up between one of many desks in the Bureau.

'Oh, me?' he came up to her with a chuckle in his voice. 'You're solitary.' he accused her.

'No, no, I'm private and it's different, besides we weren't talking about me.' she tried to change the subject back.

Booth wasn't gonna let this down. 'I was.'

'Well, I wasn't, look I'm happy for you. Relationships have anthropological meaning, no society can survive if sexual bonds aren't forged between…'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Booth had enough. Brennan stopped and was looking at him irritated.

'Booth!' Agent Santana called him the minute he heard them talking.

'Yeah?' Booth said and both of them turned to see him walking out of the other room.

'You got that ID?' Santana asked.

'Yeah, it was Masruk.'

Santana stood there and closed his eyes for a second. 'Oh, that's too bad.'

'He killed four people and injured another 15.' Brennan said thinking on how his suicide could be _too bad_.

'The report came back from Ballistics.' Santana handed over the folder. 'Now, the explosives were placed underneath the car with a trigger connected to the odometer.' he said while Booth and Brennan moved their looks from him to the folder. 'Masruk was murdered.' Santana said being absolutely sure about this.

'So Masruk wasn't a terrorist.' Brennan said.

'Somebody tried to make him look like one.' Booth looked up back to Santana, then back again to folder. 'Any leads on who did it?' he asked.

'That's why we're paying you, Booth.' Santana said and left them standing.

'_Oh, well that's just great…_' Booth thought as he rolled his eyes.

'I would suggest we stop here…' Brennan brought him back from his thoughts.

'What? Why?'

'It's already late, we won't be able to do anything else anyway and tomorrow morning we can call Masruk's wife to come in…again…' she explained.

'Okey, let's do that…' Booth agreed.

**Next morning…**

'We're very sorry, Mrs. Masruk.' Booth said once he and Brennan explained the crucial changes in the case. Sahar was walking from corner of the interrogation room to the other.

'I told you Hamid was the victim, but you wouldn't listen. You couldn't imagine an Arab who was a peace-loving man.' she said, her voice sounded stronger than the last time she was in this very room.

'That's not true.'

'No? "We must investigate everything, Mrs. Masruk." she crossed her arms on her chest. "We must turn your house upside down because we believe your husband was a good man." Sahar bit him and Booth turned to see Brennan who was leaning on the wall. 'Is that the truth?'

'No, they searched your house because Muslim extremists have declared war on the United States.' this time it was Brennan who came forward and took Booth's place. Sahar leaned away while hearing those words. 'Preliminary findings made your husband a suspect, which we are required to-…'

'It's not Bureau policy to target or profile any ethnic group.' Booth cut her while Sahar carried on her walking path in the room. 'It wasn't our intention, but I can understand why you may feel offended.'

'I can't.' Brennan said straight away.

'Bones…' Booth tried to shush her down.

'What?' she asked surprised. 'She's been a part of a criminal investigation, that's all. Her rights haven't been violated, it's unfortunate that her husband's ethnicity is a factor, but to say that isn't would be disingenuous.' she threw her defense out and crossed her arms.

'I have to apologize for Dr. Brennan.'

'It's fine, Mr. Booth.' Sahar assured him. 'Honesty is always a welcome relief.' Booth looked over Brennan while she bit her lower lip in annoyance. 'So when can I bury him?' Sahar asked as she picked up a frame with a photo of her and Hamid. 'When can I give him peace?'

'There are certain body parts that I'm still examining. Others are still seared to the surface of the wreckage.'

'I'm sure, Mrs. Masruk doesn't really need to know the details…' Booth said half whispereing straight after Brennan finished.

'If I can retrieve more remains of her husband, Muslim law requires that I do.' Brennan said and noticed Sahar looking up at her.' I spent some time in Iraq identifying bodies.' she explained. 'I'll give you whatever I can so that he can be purified for burial.' she carried on as she walked to stand next to Sahar.

'Thank you.' Sahar looked up from the photo. 'Is that all?' she turned to Booth.

'One last thing.' he began. 'A few calls were made to, uh…his cell phone from your house minutes before the blast…'

'Yes. We argued…' Sahar remembered the last conversation she had with her husband. 'It was a family matter.' she looked back at the photo. 'My final words to him were words of anger.'

'I'm very sorry. That must be very painful.' Booth expressed his condolences.

'You looked very happy in that picture.' Brennan finally said.

'Yes.' Sahar had nothing else to say and took the box of stuff brought after the search of her house.

'Thank you.' Booth said while seeing her leaving. 'If there's anything else that, you know, you can think of, just give us a call.'

Sahar turned her head to see him and with a word or nod she left the interrogation room.

'I think she's having an affair.' Booth concluded and threw the ball that he had all this time in his hand into the wall. Ball just bounced back and Booth caught it. Brennan just turned to at him. 'Personally.' he added and threw the ball again.

**20 minutes later…**

Wong Fu's was a small Chinese Restaurant and Take Away place located really close to the Bureau. Maybe because of that it was Booth's favorite place to visit and have a snack during his lunch time. Quiet, not too overcrowded and very modest. Although, today it was different. Just because his assumption made his partner pissed and she decided not to leave this thing unsolved and followed him knowing that it was time off.

'She was having an affair!' Booth repeated his theory as they entered the place.

'I'm sorry, but that's an offensive assumption.' Brennan followed him.

'All the signs are there…'

They walked around the table which was already occupied by customers, they just watched two people speaking to each other loudly, obviously arguing.

'You can't make wild accusations about somebody's personal life based on a feeling.' Brennan stood her ground, they approached the main bar.

'It's more than a feeling, okay?' Booth said while both of them sat next to the bar. 'That photograph is evidence just as sloid as the markers that you squints pick up looking at your little, you know, bones.' he grabbed the bowl with peanuts in front of him while Brennan's face frowned hearing him speaking of them as squints again.

'The evidence I find is empirical. What you consider evidence is merely conjecture.'

'She dyed her hair, she lost weight, you know? She showed a little Botox in her forehead, and she's still feeling guilty over the last fight she had with her husband.

'Ohh, you are an insufferable, arrogant…man.' Brennan growled at him while squeezing pack of chopsticks.

'Oh, so only a woman can know a woman?' Booth tried to bit back. 'I thought women wanted us to understand them.'

'Not really.' Angela suddenly appeared and took a seat next to Booth. He and Brennan didn't even notice her since they came in here, but one thing was right for sure – she has heard their argument. 'A magician never wants to reveal her tricks.' she added.

'We're having a private conversation.' Booth said, too annoyed to realize that they weren't the only people in here.

'I'm not here.' Angela quickly apologized.

'So you think you know women just because you live with some sexy lawyer?' Brennan took her chance to use this fact to make him uncomfortable. 'Unbelievable.' she added, but Booth just scoffed at her.

'You live with a sexy lawyer?' Angela just had to ask.

'She has her own place, okay?' Booth explained while laughing.

'He thinks, just because Masruk's wife started working out, had a little makeover, that she's having an affair.' Brennan explained to Angela angrily while waving two chop sticks that were out of the package, in the air.

'How long were they married?'

'11 years.' Booth said quickly.

'I'm with him.' Angela said without thinking twice. Booth just tapped his hand on the bar in success and turned his smiling face to Brennan.

'There is no concrete proof.' Brennan wanted his slap his stupid grin away.

'Boobs perkier?' Angela asked.

'Mm-hmm.' Booth hummed while turning from Angela to Brennan with the same goofy smile.

'I don't believe this.' Brennan said in despair and threw the chop sticks away. Now Angela's taking Booth's side? 'If you're so sure, then why didn't you confront her?'

'Because, if she or her boyfriend were involved, she would warn him.' Angela said figuring out like a detective.

'Very good.' Booth praised her, knowing he would say the same.

'I'm a constant surprise.' she said while taking her food she brought from her previous table, with chop sticks between her fingers.

Brennan had anger over her face. 'All right, great.' she said knowing she won't get anything sensible here. 'I will be in the lab getting us some real data.' and with that she left. Booth just cracked his knuckles.

'So…how many nights a week does "Sexy" sleep over?' Angela asked like it wasn't anything bad. Booth just laughed at her question.

In a mean time Brennan went back to the lab. Hodgins and Zack were on the main platform.

'How's it coming?' she asked while grabbing a pair of lab gloves.

Zack was first to respond. 'The ethmoid and sphenoid fragments won't piece together.'

'Zack, I'd like to return the remains to the window before her demise.'

'I'm doing my best, Dr. Brennan. The integrity of the bone seems to be compromised.' Zack said while Hodgins turned to look at him. 'I don't know if it's from the metal fragments from the blast…'

'I examined the chemicals used in the explosives.' Hodgins cut him off. 'The perchlorates I found can have a degenerative effect.'

'Not this quickly.' Brennan rushed to say. 'Excuse me.' she said as Hodgins moved from the microscope allowing Brennan to take his seat.

'Unusually soft bone tissue…' she said while examining sample. 'You know, this has nothing to do with the blast.' she looked up to Hodgins. 'I owe you an apology, Zack.' she looked at her assistant. 'Do you have his medicals?'

He moved the folder that was on his table towards her.

'Stiff joints, facial disfigurement…' Brennan began reading once she opened the folder, then she moved to look through the microscope again. 'There's a disorganized trabecular pattern here that his doctors wouldn't have been able to see.' she lifted her sight from the scope. 'It could be a degenerative disease.'

'I don't get it.' Hodgins shook his head. 'How does his medical condition figure into the murder?'

'Now it's not a murder. Before, it was terrorism, because we didn't have all the facts. You don't overlook anything when you're looking for the truth. Check for lupus and Paget's. Do you have enough tissue?' Brennan asked after her explanation.

'Yeah, I can manage it.' Hodgins assured her.

'If those come back negative, he might have been exposed to a toxin, which would mean his brother was, too.' Brennan said while taking the folder and placing it back on Zack's table. 'He's exhibiting similar symptoms.' she left the seat. 'I'll get the brother's medicals.' with that she left the platform.

Hodgins let out a sigh. 'I graduated top of my class, Rhodes scholar, the youngest member inducted into the Academy of Physical Sciences…' he took his seat back next to the microscope. '…but she still makes me feel like a cretin.' he complained with sarcasm.

'She apologized to me.' Zack said and Hodgins turned to see him with an expression saying _really? _Zack just lowered his head and carried on what he was doing so far.

**30 minutes later…**

Booth agreed to take Brennan to visit Hamid's brother in this apartment, although Brennan was still feeling tense after their last conversation they had earlier today.

'Yes, I am a Christian.' Farid said while bringing a tray with three glasses of tea. He saw FBI Agent looking over the cross on the wall. Brennan got herself comfortable on the couch.

'But Hamid was Muslim, and Sahar…' Booth began.

'I converted.' he placed the tray on the coffee table and took a seat behind himself. 'Hamid could never accept it. Religious differences cause too many problems.'

'Seems to be a consistent fact throughout history.' Brennan said while looking through one of Farid's books, her look moved to Booth.

'Please.' Farid motioned Booth to take a seat. He sat next to Brennan. 'I tried to make peace with my brother, but it was difficult. There was more than religion between us.' Farid's said with sadness.

'Sahar mentioned that there were some, uh, family problems.' he shared a quick look with Brennan.

'Yes.' Farid agreed.

'I can understand how, uh, delicate they can be.' Booth said while reaching for the glass, then he handed it to Brennan.

'Did she tell you any more than that?' Farid reached for the drink himself.

'No, but, I mean, if you have, uh…' Booth's hand moved to the last glass on the tray while Brennan placed the book on the table. '…any other information that could help us in the investigation…' they were both looking at Farid.

'It's not my place.'

'We're just trying to find out who killed your brother.' Booth was persistent.

Farid's eyes quickly moved up to them and for a moment he was silent. 'Sahar was seeing another man…' at this point Booth turned to see Brennan and her defeated expression, just to say – _what did I tell you._ He calmly took a sip knowing that Brennan was looking at him like she couldn't believe what Farid said was true. '…but I can't believe she'd hurt my brother.' Farid finished.

'Do you know who this other man is, or is it just a "feeling" (she looked at Booth while saying that out loud) you have?' Brennan asked Farid.

'I've met him.' Farid admitted. 'Ali Ladjavardi. He worked with Hamid at the Friendship League...'

Booth placed his empty glass on the table.

'…I wanted Hamid to confront Ladjavardi.'

'Did both you and Hamid have contact with Ladjavardi?' Brennan asked.

'Yes, once. A meal. I brought Hamid to meet him. Sharing a meal is a gesture of peace. I was trying to save their marriage, but Sahar and Ladjavardi were not going to stop their affair, so I told Hamid to repudiate her.'

'I'm sorry?' Booth asked.

'In Muslim law, it's a method of divorce. It's called Talaq.' Brennan explained.

'I still respected his traditions.' Farid said.

'You and your brother seem to share a medical condition.' Brennan began and Farid looked around uncomfortably.

'Y-yes. Why is that important?' he asked.

'We don't mean to embarrass you, but Dr. Brennan is just trying to figure out the condition.' Booth said while looking at her. 'It's routine, part of the investigation.' Booth said simply.

'Have you seen a doctor?' Brennan asked right after Booth finished speaking.

'Yes. He believes it's a genetic disorder we shared. He was going to call Hamid's physician to discuss it.'

'Would you mind if we saw your medical records?' Booth asked the main thing that was Brennan looking forward to get.

'Of course not. If I could be helped, I welcome it.'

**Jeffersonian…**

In a meantime while Booth and Brennan were and Farid's place, Angela returned from Wong Fu's and other errands she ran at town, including getting the contacts of someone specific, now she joined Hodgins and Zack's company on platform.

'Apparently, they live together a few days a week.' Angela said of what she got out of the last conversation she had with Booth. 'But he was very clear that she has her own place.'

'Should you be intruding into their lives like this?' Zack asked as he was working on the same skull fragments.

'Oh, yeah. Absolutely.' Angela said as it wasn't a big deal.

'We're negative for lupus and Paget's' Hodgins announced and turned to Zack. 'When you're done, I'll do a scraping for environmental contaminants.'

'I found these – shiny flakes that caught onto the torn edges of bone.' he handed it to Hodgins.

'Bottom line, I still think Brennan has a shot with Booth.' Angela expressed her theory.

'But she says she's not interested.' Hodgins replied annoyed of Angela's talks.

'Methinks the lady doth protest too much.' Angela said.

'Maybe she protesteth just enough.' Zack said suddenly.

'Please. She's been sleeping alone for months.' Angela was concerned about her best friend. 'She has enough pent up sexual energy to power a small Midwestern city.'

'This looks like gypsum.' Hodgins said not lifting his eyes from microscope lens. 'it wouldn't cause any organic damage.' Angela lifted her lips up, but neither of them noticed. 'It was probably used to insulate the explosives.' Hodgins moved slightly away from his work station. 'Bet the FBI doesn't know that yet.' he had evil grin on his face.

'I'm going to go check out this girlfriend.' Angela said out suddenly completely ignoring what Hodgins just said. She left the platform while Hodgins followed her with his eyes.

**Interrogation Room**

Since Farid gave the name of someone else involved in this case, it was easy for Brennan and Booth to bring the suspect in relatively short period of time.

'I'm not proud of the affair. I admired Hamid. But Sahar and I are in love and I can't change that.' Ali said while watching Booth walking back and forward in the room. Brennan was behind the one side glass room watching them through it.

'You worked with Hamid.' Booth said. 'You had access to his car.'

'That's ridiculous!' Ali objected.

'You also had contact with his brother, Farid, who said you were less than friendly with Hamid.'

'Have you ever been in the middle of a messy relationship, Agent Booth?' Ali asked him. 'Or are you a perfect man?'

'I'd prefer to ask questions, Mr. Ladjavardi.'

'And I have the right for an attorney. Have you called the number I gave you?'

'Of course. You know, I would never deny anyone his rights…'

Just as Booth finished speaking, doors flew open and Agent Santana entered the room.

'Mr. Ladjavardi…' he began. '…I'm Special Agent in Charge, Santana. We're sorry for the inconvenience. You're free to go.' Santana said and Booth was looking at him with confusion.

'Thank you.' Ali gave a condemned look to Booth and get off his seat.

'You're finished.' Santana now said to Booth.

'What the hell was that all about?' Booth asked angrily. 'He was a prime suspect.'

'He's a mole for Homeland Security. They planted him in the Arab-American Friendship League.'

Booth looked up at the ceiling before talking again. 'He admitted the affair.'

'Maybe, but Homeland Security says he's clean. They do not want his cover blown.'

'But, sir…' Booth tried to argue.

'Do I look like I'm discussing this?' Santana asked with raised tone and left the room.

Booth had nothing else to do but punch the wall next to the glass. His movement made Brennan slightly step back. She saw him taking another chair to sit next to the table, his arms draped over his knees, head bent down. It took couple of seconds for him to lift his head and look towards the glass window. Brennan knew he could not see her, but he was looking directly at her as he saw her directly through. He motioned his head to the side indicating to leave. She did without second thought and followed him out of the Bureau.

'Come on.' Booth honked the signal of SUV.

'You want me to drive?' Brennan offered seeing him in not the best mood.

'No. Why?'

'You're angry.' Brennan declared. Booth chuckled.

'I'm not angry.' he assured her.

'Yeah, you're furious. You're going to kill somebody.'

'I am not angry.' he confirmed again. 'Believe me, you do not want to see me angry. That's the last thing you want to see.'

'Okay, okay.' Brennan raised her arms in defeat.

'This is me accepting the reality.' Booth explained.

'Okay, my mistake.' she apologized.

'My superiors, they make the decisions, Bones. All right?' she looked at him. 'They don't think them through, that's really not my problem.'

'If I were you, I'd be mad.' Brennan said honestly. 'Homeland Security is preventing you from doing a proper investigation of a murder case.'

'I'm a grown-up. I'll deal.' Booth said in a low, fearsome voice that made Brennan shift in her seat uncomfortably. 'You know that thing where you ask for the strength to change the things that you can, and the wisdom to know the difference?' he asked, his voice was back to normal again.

'Not really.' she said.

'Well, that's a good thing.'

'Who do you ask?'

'For what?'

'For the strength and the wisdom?'

'God.'

'And it works?'

'Can we talk about something else?' Booth tried to change their chat a little bit.

'Sure.' Brennan agreed. Then the first thing that popped in her head and she wasn't sure why, was… 'Tessa?'

'Tessa? No. Why do you want to talk about Tessa?'

'Why? Why not?' Brennan argued then realized it was a bad idea. 'I'm sorry. We won't talk about Tessa.'

'I prefer if we would just stay on point and talk about things…' Brennan let out a sigh. '…that you like to talk about, like dead people. Dead bodies.'

'Sure, sure.' Brennan's voice sounded serious as it was the best topic to talk about. 'You've killed a lot of people, right? When you were a sniper?'

Booth saw this was going nowhere. 'Maybe we shouldn't talk at all.'

'Right, 'cause you're angry.' Brennan moved them back to the _square one_.

'I'm not angry. Not.' Booth said in the most casual tone ever.

A car honking its own signal went pass them.

'We'll find out who killed him, Booth.' after moment of silence, Brennan spoke. 'We've got Hamid's body.' Booth looked at her but didn't say a word. 'You can always count on the dead.' she concluded.

**Jeffersonian…**

'When Booth send over the brother's medicals, I want them matched to Hamid's.' Brennan said as she entered the platform. Booth dropped her off and was on his way back to the Bureau to sort things out.

Zack and Hodgins alongside with other workers of Institute were already there.

'I'm starting on a tox screen.' Hodgins said while handing her paper.

'Farid said that his doctor suspected a genetic condition.' she looked at Hodgins. 'Maybe we're overlooking something.' she said until her eyes caught something unusual placed on the space examination table. 'What is that?' she moved forward to take a closer look.

'We used the trace elements we recovered to try and rebuild the bomb. It might give you another link.'

Hodgins stood next to Brennan. 'Isn't the FBI working on that?' she asked overlooking wires, plates of microschemes and other stuff connected together, there was even rubber end of a simple pencil stuck in. Surely, homemade prototype.

'Yeah, this is just for fun.'

'To see who's better?' Brennan asked, sensing Hodgins's intention to show that Jeffersonian is way better than FBI.

'Maybe. A little. Yeah.'

'Good luck.'

'Ta-da.' Zack appeared between them with reconstructed skull. Brennan took the tray from him.

'Nice job.' she looked up to Zack, then she walked over another table with a large lamp attached to it. Both of her colleagues followed her. 'No wonder you had such trouble with the reconstruction. Look at the spread of the trabecular pattern in the bone.'

'Microscopic fissures, like cracks.' Zack said, making sure Hodgins would hear it clearly.

'I knew that.'

'I don't think so.'

'Can we focus?' Brennan said out loud, hearing that if the two of them won't stop, it will become a problem. 'The spread was too rapid for any organic bone disease or genetic condition. It's definitely a toxin.' she took a small breath, then looked up at them. 'Is there any surviving narrow to test?'

'I'll try and find some.' Zack replied.

'Let's do it.'

Hodgins had daggers in his eyes as he saw Zack leaving the platform, Brennan was still focusing on the skull in front of her.

**Everyone of the team was busy, except one person….**

Angela entered the downtown café, her eyes closed together as she was scanning the area, there wasn't many customers, but it wasn't a problem for her. She already found what she was looking for. Blonde lady was sitting alone at the round bar-height table, eating what looked like muffin and reading a book, single take-away cup was there waiting to be finished. She was wearing black office outfit with simple high-heels.

Angela took a look at the registration form she managed to snatch that had a single photo of a woman. Once she confirmed, she began to walk towards her and on purpose dropped her handbag next to her table. That caught lady's attention and it was all that Angela needed.

**Back in Jeffersonian…**

'The narrow's degraded.' Hodgins said while looking through microscope. 'I can give you basics, but that's it.' he said moving up from the lens.

'Well, according to these tests, the liver function was impaired.' Zack was looking at the clipboard.

'His body was trying to get rid of whatever was poisoning him.' Brennan explained.

'There is trouble in paradise.' Angela silently made her move and announced out loud.

'I beg your pardon?' Brennan asked, having no idea what she's talking about.

'Tessa does not feel secure in that relationship. I think she's threatened by you.'

'You talked to her?' Brennan asked shocked.

'She didn't say much but, even though she has a phenomenal figure, she was chowing down on a fat-free muffin. And she was reading about unsolved FBI cases.' Angela scoffed. 'She's obviously feeling insecure.'

'She's spying for you?' Hodgins couldn't believe that what Angela said, Angela in fact did.

'No, no!' Brennan defended herself.

'Even if you have nothing in common, it's difficult to sublimate intense sexual attraction.' Zack turned to look at Brennan's wide-eyed-frustration filled face. Angela and Hodgins were smiling at her, though Angela's was bigger. 'And we hear it's been a while.' Zack finished.

'Okay, stop!' Brennan wanted this to end. Completely unrelated subject to be brought up. Damn, Angela.

'He is there for the taking, honey.' Angela said in her most relaxed voice while Brennan's eyes were literally popping out in disbelief.

'Okay, I couldn't get his medical records.' Booth entered the platform and all four of them turned to see him. 'What?' he asked not knowing what's going on. Angela moved her face to Hodgins in order to hide her smile, Zack didn't change his expression and Brennan just cleared her throat.

'Uh…nothing.' she leaned down to check on computer, now knowing that Angela was still looking at her.

'Trying to track down the doctor.' Booth tried to start a proper conversation.

'Don't need him. It's definitely a toxin, but we can't determine what kind.' Brennan looked up at him.

'Too bad the liver is cooked. That could tell us everything.' Zack said sadly.

'I need subtitles walking in here.' Booth said.

'The liver is like a filter. It would contain evidence of any toxins in the system, but we don't have the liver or any of the flesh left.'

'But we do have the beetles.' Hodgins spoke behind.

Minutes later they were back in the very same room where the remains were first brought for the flesh-eating beetles. The very same beetles were still here.

'They ate Hamid's flesh and whatever organs remained. And, as we all know, you are what you eat.' Hodgins explained as Zack was standing in front of him, opening the lid of the jar.

'So you can ID the poison from the beetles?' Booth asked just to confirm he heard right.

'You can't kill them.' Zack said, his voice trembled. 'They have names.'

'We have to, Zack.' Brennan said. Angela stood behind her, her face frowned just by looking at those moving creatures. 'Some.' she added and took a handful of them from the jar when Zack closed his eyes. Brennan then placed them inside other, smaller jar and Hodgins quickly turned the lid on.

'In Thailand, they're sautéed in peanut oil.' he said while looking at them and at the same time making Zack feeling more miserable. 'Mmm…' he shook the jar and left the room smiling at Zack in victory. Brennan with Angela followed him out. Booth wanted to tap Zack's shoulder to comfort him but changed his mind the last second.

Zack made his way to the platform, after he calmed himself down and accrued on working on the prototype of the bomb.

'We're going to have to run a simulation. I need you to input the skull and give me a face.' Brennan walked up to Angela with the skull in her hands.

'You got it.' Angela said as she took it.

'And no more talk about Booth.' Brennan quietly said, feeling anxious about that topic. 'You shouldn't have gotten involved.'

'But that's what friends are for.' Angela ignored her plea with a smile.

'Please, Angela…' Brennan begged, and Angela just clicked her tongue.

'Hey, whoa. Where did you get this?' Booth entered the platform and walked over Zack.

'I'm building it, theoretical construct of the bomb based on the particulates we gathered.' Booth looked at Brennan while listening to Zack.

'This isn't your job. Bureau's doing this.' Booth said.

'Got it!' Hodgins announced from the other side of the platform. 'They were poisoned by dioxin.' he stood up. 'A very pure form.' he walked over them with a report in his hands. 'It would stay in his system for years, cause cancer, diabetes, heart attack and the facial cysts and bone degeneration we saw.' Brennan took it and attached to the clipboard.

'Give me the saturation levels.' she began marking on the report. 'Angela can use it to the simulation to give us an approximate date of ingestion.'

'How much would it take to poison them?' Booth asked.

'Just a little slipped into their food. Like at that lunch they both had with Sahar's lover.' Brennan replied.

'Impressed?' Angela asked him though Booth remained silent.

**Angela's Office – Imaging Unit**

Dioxin levels were 5,600 parts per trillion.' Brennan was marking on the paper. Zack's reconstructed skull was already attached to the Angela's simulation device. 'Speed of bone degeneration is an 80% increase over baseline osteoporosis.'

'I remember that one. Thanks.' Angela said.

'Run the scenario.' Brennan asked.

Angela turned her mighty two-panel device. In one quick moment office was filled with yellow color. A skull and the upper part of the torso appeared between panels.

'I will never get used to this.' Booth said as skull was covered with the face and hair.

'Yeah.' Angela responded. 'Chicks with toys.'

'Poor bastard.' Booth said, though Brennan wasn't listening to them.

'Match it to his INS photograph, see how accurate you are.' Brennan said and soon real photo of Hamid appeared next to their simulation skeleton. 'Good work, Angela.' Brennan admitted. 'Probable date of exposure…about four months ago, I'd say first week in June…'

'Let's go pay a little visit to Mr. Ladjavardi.' Booth said upon hearing Brennan. She motioned to the side and left; Angela nodded her head in approval.

**It didn't take long for Booth and Brennan to reach the building of Friendship League.**

'I thought you were told to stay away from him.' Brennan said as they both got out of the SUV.

Booth took of his tie. 'Yeah, and, as an FBI Agent, I cannot disobey my superior.' he fixed the collar of his button shirt. 'But you're not an FBI agent.' he told her with the smile, she smiled back at him.

As it would be a coincidence, Ali walked out on the street in front of them.

'Hey! Hi.' Brennan clapped her hands. 'How you doing?' she got Ali's attention and he turned to around.

'What the hell are you doing here?' Ali wasn't happy to see them. 'You had orders.'

'No, not me.' Brennan said, Booth behind her fixing his suit in the way his gun was showing. 'I…I just have a couple of quick questions for you.'

'Look, I'm not involved in this.' Ali said in anger. 'Sahar won't even talk to me anymore.' he moved his head to look at Booth.

'Yeah, I wonder why.' Brennan said and turned back to her partner. Booth just raised his eyebrows.

'I'm calling Santana.' Ali threatened them as he pulled out his phone and turned away. Brennan moved to stand in front of him.

'Yeah, I don't think so.' she raised her hand.

'I'm warning you.' Ali looked at her.

'I wouldn't threaten her if I were you.' Booth spoke from behind.

'Look, I just want to know where you were in June, first week…' Ali was ignoring her and dialing the number. '…to see if you poisoned Hamid and Farid.' Brennan went straight forward.

'Subtle.' was all Booth said.

'I'm leaving. That's it.' Ali had enough, he tried to shove Brennan out of his way, but she was quicker, grabbed his arm and twisted him around, so he landed on the ground with his back.

'Told you, she doesn't like to be touched.' Booth reminded him as Brennan pinned him down with her feet on his throat.

'I didn't poison anybody.' Ali began explaining, he struggled to speak with his normal voice, though Brennan left him enough space to breathe.

'Then tell me where you were in June.' she simply asked.

'In Utah, for training with Homeland Security. I didn't get to D.C. until August 12. Check with the department.'

'All right. Thanks.' she simply said and removed her feet from his throat. As soon as he was free, Ali began to cough.

Brennan looked at Booth as she was walking towards the SUV. Booth just clinked his keys while looking over Ali.

**Jeffersonian…**

'The insulation they used is gypsium-based, with plaster and lead mixed with asbestos.' Hodgins said while marking in his notebook.

'Pyrobar.' Zack said while looking at the screen. 'It's a fireproof tile developed in 1903 by the United States Gypsium Company. It was only used for a few years.'

'So it probably came from the building the bomb was constructed in.' Hodgins turned to him.

'We find the building, and we find the bomber.' Zack announced and Hodgins tapped his shoulder.

**Booth's SUV**

'How about this? Sahar wants out of the marriage. Hamid refuses, so Sahar poisons him so that she can run off with Ladjavardi.' Booth said.

'Doesn't make sense.' Brennan replied while looking out of the window.

'When someone dies, the first suspect is the spouse.' Booth explained his theory further.

'Well, what about Hamid's brother?' Did she poison him, too?'

'Why not? You know, he's pushing his nose into their marriage. I mean, suddenly, Sahar's facing, you know, a devout Muslim and a fundamentalist Christian. And you know, nobody allows divorce, and she's pushed to murder.'

'That eschews logic…'

'Aw, come on, Bones! Just work with me here! All right? It's what we in law enforcement call _positing a scenario_. And don't use the word _eschew_.' Booth was in despair, trying to put Brennan on trach.

'What if you and Tessa were going to break up, but you didn't want to?' Brennan out of sudden changed the subject.

'Which I don't.' Booth quickly said.

'Well, I'm positing a scenario.' Brennan used his method against him now. 'Tessa wants to break up, and you don't want to, so she poisons you.'

'No, no, no…' Booth shook his head with a smile.

'And then, just to make sure, she blows you up with a bomb.'

'Why would Tessa do that?'

'Exactly. Thank you.'

'See, 'cause Tessa and I… that's a bad example.'

'You're couple in love, right?'

'Why do you keep bringing up Tessa?' Booth was now curious since it wasn't the first time they had conversation related to Tessa. 'I mean, why? What's the big deal? I mean, is it so odd for you that I have someone in my life?'

'We were talking about couples. It's a natural segue.' Brennan tried to defend herself.

'All right, you know, you have to quit using word _segue _and _eschew_. All right? They…they sound French…'

'You keep changing the subject.' Brennan accused him. 'I get it. You're sensitive about you and Tessa.'

'Why aren't we talking about you and your boyfriend?' Booth attacked her.

'I don't have a boyfriend.' she replied with a smile.

'You just said that as though it's a good thing.' Booth heard her right. 'And you know what…it's a very, very sad comment on your personal life.'

'Look, you're angry again.' Brennan said and Booth just chuckled. At that minute her phone began to ring. 'Brennan.'

'The bomb insulation was made from Pyrobar, which was used by an architect named William Allard.' Zack said and moved over the screen to confirm the info. 'He was known for developing the Woodley Park neighborhood around 1910.'

'Hang on a second, Zack.' Brennan moved away the phone. 'The bomb was made in Woodley Park.' she told Booth.

'That's where Farid lives. Okay, hold on.' he warned her and turned SUV around the way. Brennan held her hands over the panels of the interior. 'No wonder we couldn't get his medicals.' Booth carried on once they were in stable position. 'He already knew what was poisoning him. All right, just stay in contact with your boys and tell them we're going to need them. All right, listen, Bones, we're heading into a very unknown situation. I think it's best that you just stay In the car.' He was serious.

Brennan was looking at him while holding her phone in the air and waiting for him to change his mind.

Booth didn't get the reply from her, so he turned to look at her. 'Okay then, you know, if you have to come in with me, then you stay behind me.' he tried to compromise, but it didn't work. Brennan didn't move or let out any sound.

Booth sensed her annoyance. 'Fine. Just be careful, all right?'

They reached Farid's apartment quickly enough. Booth pulled out his gun. 'Okay, anybody asks that door was open.' he tried to sound serious after breaking the door. 'Stay right here.' he wanted her to obey, but she didn't listen and followed him.

'FBI, Farid!' Booth shouted as he walked further. He saw Brennan walking to him as he reached sitting room and raised his hand to stop her. 'Show yourself.' he checked the kitchen. It was clear. No sign of anyone. 'Okay.' he said to her because it was safe to go. 'Clear.' Booth checked another room while Brennan entered the kitchen.

'Get me Hodgins.' she told Zack who was still on the line. Kitchen table was covered by plastic and glass bottles that looked like it came from chemistry lab or factory.

'Yeah.' Hodgins spoke from the other side.

'Farid was making something here.' she took a moment to think on how to describe the view to Hodgins as clear as possible. 'Okay, I've got melted plastic, bottles of chlorine…'

'Dioxin.' Hodgins answered. 'That's how you'd make it.'

'Bones!' Booth must have found something.

'Yes?' she came over with her phone on her shoulder as she put the gloves on.

'The insulation. Farid definitely made the bomb that killed his brother.' There was damaged wall with wood plated behind, some of them were broken.

'Right, stay with me, Hodgins.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah…' he assured her.

'Hamid must have been killed because he found his brother making dioxin.' Booth said. 'All right, that's probably how they got contaminated. Come on, Mechanic's Guide for Hamid's SUV.' he took one of them from the pile in the box. 'Page on the odometer…dog-eared.' Booth tapped his fingers between the pages.

Brennan noticed something that they weren't aware of the last time they were here. There was a chest oddly placed almost to the middle of the room. 'Ah! she exclaimed once she opened the lid. 'He wasn't a Christian.' she took out the rug for praying with several papers and a book on it. 'Deceit in the service of Allah is holy.' she read from one of those papers.

'The Koran?' Booth asked her once he entered the room.

'No. An Imam's twisted interpretation of the Koran, so that mass murders don't have to feel guilt.'

Booth returned to the bedroom and noticed something underneath the bed.

'He made another bomb.' Booth said a he kicked the bowl from under the bed, full with the stuff similar on kitchen table. 'It's out there right now.'

'I'm convinced.' Brennan walked over to pick her phone up. 'What's the dispersal rate, for a bomb packed with, say two liters of dioxin?'

'Ah…a homemade device similar to the car bomb? That could be 300 to 500 meters.' Hodgins turned around while trying to take quick notes and adjusting the cable of the phone, not to get strangled. 'If the victims weren't killed, they'd develop cancer, blindness, lesions, diabetes.' he turned around to see Zack, sitting on the platform.

Booth was looking through Farid's datebook. 'Today's day is marked. Call Homeland Security. They will secure the apartment.'

**Back in SUV with sirens flipped on**

'There's a convenience store across the street from Farid's apartment. The owner saw him get on to a bus and head downtown.' Booth spoke to Gibson over the phone, while Brennan did the same with Angela. 'We're not sure what bus.' Brennan looked over him. 'Booth is checking with the FBI now. If you find anything…'

"I know. It's just these bus schedules are totally confusing.' Angela was on laptop in her office.

'Yeah. We saw his datebook. He had 5:30 circled.' Booth was still on the line. 'Just check anything that has anything to do with 5:30… begins, ends, whatever. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere…'

'Angela's checking too.' Brennan said to Booth as she moved away her phone. 'I still don't understand why Farid would kill his brother?'

Booth moved his phone away as well. 'Because both of them were developing symptoms, man, and people were going to start asking questions, and then Farid…he would have been exposed. He had a mission to accomplish.'

'How the hell does he think he's bringing about a better world by blowing people up?'

'Fanaticism and logic don't go hand in hand.'

Brennan didn't listen to him. 'It's almost 5:30. Come on, Angela.' she urged her colleague. 'Anything between Woodley Park and downtown.'

'Okay, okay, uh…' Angela tried to calm her down. '…three movies start at 6:00, there's a lecture at Fuller hall on birds. I can't imagine that will be crowded…' she typed further on keyboard. '…and a peace conference at the Hamilton Cultural Center. There'll be speeches by Arab moderates and a congressman. That looks like the one…'

That was enough for Brennan to hear. 'Peace conference, Hamilton Cultural Center. That's it.' she informed Booth.

'That's got to be it.' Booth agreed. 'Okay, Gibson, just get you boys over to the Hamilton Cultural Center. Just keep them back when you get there. You understand me? If you spook this guy, he'll blow himself up before we can take them out.'

'Thanks Angela.' Brennan said and hung up after it was settled where they needed to be.

'Bye. Bye.' Booth said quietly. 'You know, you don't have to come.'

'You gotta be kidding me?' this time Brennan answered back to his protectiveness over her.

**Hamilton Cultural Center**

'We'll start down here and we'll make our way upstairs.' Booth said as they entered the building. Lobby was full of people waiting for the conference to start.

'Welcome to the Hamilton Cultural Center, Peace Conference…' man's voice over P.A. spoke. 'We would like ask that all delegates check in at the orientation located at the east atrium before…for the keynote speaker address…'

'There are too many ways in…'Brennan said after observing the environment. She stepped on the elevator stairs, Booth stopped spinning around and followed her. 'Where are the reinforcements? Aren't there always reinforcements?' she threw questions as they proceeded to the upper floor.

'I'm sure they're downstairs tying up the horses.'

'Sarcasm doesn't help…' she turned to look at him.

'Okay, they're mobilizing SWAT teams and additional agents, but it takes time. And if Farid has the bomb, spots them, that could be bad.'

They reached the upper floor and began walking alongside the railing covered by flowers and other plants.

'If you see him, will you shot?' Brennan asked out of curiosity while both of them were walking and leaning over the railing trying to spot Farid.

'He might not have the bomb.' Booth was trying to make scenario a bit easier.

'You don't believe that.'

'I'm not taking out a target, Bones, unless, I'm sure.'

'Is that how you make it easier? Calling him a target?'

'You know you really picked an odd time to have this conversation.' Booth was slightly irritated.

At that moment Gibson entered the building alone.

'Booth?' Brennan spotted a man with a suitcase, his back facing them, though from the hair you could tell that he might be the one.

'Farid?' Booth carefully asked and the man turned around to face them, but it wasn't Farid. Booth and Brennan kept on walking.

'There! That's Farid.' Brennan pointed her finger to show Booth, though he wasn't convinced.

'I'm not sure.' however he pulled out his gun, just in case.

'Look, his walk is labored from the dioxin poisoning and the parietal bones in his skull match his picture.'

'His back's to us. What if you are wrong?' Booth certainly didn't want to kill an innocent.

'This is what I do Booth!' she turned to him. 'Do you really want to wait?'

Their target was slowly making his way to the crowd.

'He's carrying something heavy in his camera bag.' Brennan tried to convince him by any means. 'See? The actual weight is causing his shoulder to…'

No, I can't!' Booth cut her off, feeling pressure of the situation they are in.

'He has all the markers Booth!' she turned to look at him again. That made him straighten his arms and aim at the same time.

'I need a face. I need a face!'

Brennan knew that Booth was feeling anxious and they were running out of time, so she thought of the only way how to get attention.

'Farid!' Brennan yelled and the man immediately turned to the source of the voice.

'On the ground!' it took a second for Booth to recognize Farid and another one to think on how Bones was absolutely right.

'He's going for the bomb!' Brennan saw his hand movements and Booth took no time to take a shot.

The bullet hit Farid's left side of the forehead, his body stumbled backwards from the impact and then fell on the floor. The sound of shot instantly set the panic in the crowd. Yells and screams filled the lower floor.

Although, it was a signal for Gibson and his men to move. He kneeled down to Farid's body and carefully released detonation button out of death grip.

Brennan calmed down upon seeing that she was right and that target was neutralized, however Booth holstered his gun back, gripped the railing with his hands and bent his head down.

Gibson opened the camera bag and underneath there were wires, cables, schemes and other stuff. All related to the bomb of suicide.

'_Well done, Agent Booth…'_ said the look on Gibson's face as he looked up to see the partners.

**Wong Fu's **

'I told them to tell the press that it was an undercover operation.' Booth said once they settled at the bar of restaurant.

'But it would be a Rose Garden Ceremony. That's an honor, right?' Booth didn't answer, so Brennan carried on. 'I thought you FBI guys liked your medals…' Brennan was leaning on the bar with her elbow, head against hand.

'There's no pleasure in taking someone's life.' Booth said and took a sip of his drink. 'It's nothing to celebrate.'

Now she knew how he was feeling couple of hours ago when he took a shot that ended life. 'You saved so many people, Booth.' she was trying to show him a good side of _medal_. Her hand moved to rest on his. 'Don't forget that.'

Booth's eyes moved from her hand to her eyes and for a minute they were looking at each other, until smiles appeared on both faces.

'Want another drink?' he offered.

Brennan just let out a sigh. 'Shouldn't you be getting home?' she asked. 'Tessa will be worried about you.'

'Yeah.' he nodded his head. 'I guess I should.' he got up from bar chair, took his suit coat and placed a single bill.

'Thanks, Bones.' he simply said.

'Sure.' she moved her eyes from the bill to him.

With that Booth began to walk to the exit while Brennan took a sip from a glass of wine and followed him with her eyes until he was gone.

**A bit later…Jeffersonian…**

'Sweetie!' Angela came as soon as she noticed Brennan had returned back to Institute. 'We still have time…' she leaned over doorframe of Brennan's office.

'Yes, time for me to identify those…' Brennan motioned over the boxes full of bones from…

'World War I?' Angela asked in disbelief.

The case was solved, the bad guy met dead end and everybody had a chance to relax at last, but that didn't apply for Brennan.

'Yes.' Brennan confirmed and carried on filling the paperwork on her desk.

Angela let out a small whistle and walked to take a seat in front of Brennan's desk. Then she lifted the only box that was on the desk and placed it on the floor, her actions caught Brennan's attention.

'Okay, let's move the old great-gran bones to the side. Do you remember what we were talking about just before this case was about to start?'

Brennan frowned while looking at smugly face of Angela until the artist began to move her head, shoulders and arms in a slow rhythm of dancing and…

'No, Angela, I'm not in the mood for club, plus I'm tired…'

'Tired?' Angela asked as she stopped moving. 'Tired for some good dancing, drinking and flirting, but not tired for those…' she motioned to the bones the same way Brennan did just a few moments ago.

Brennan rolled her eyes and shook her head. 'Angela, I'm not going…'

'Oh, don't worry, I know how to change you mind…' Angela grinned and that made Brennan to lift her head up from the paperwork. '…I'll just call Booth and…'

'No, you're not…' Brennan cut her off and scoffed.

Angela went silent for a moment before she spoke again. 'Because of…?'

'Tessa? Yes.' Brennan answered her question.

'I'm sticking with the idea that she's afraid of you…' Angela quickly bit her finger.

'Don't say that…I don't want to get Booth poisoned…'

'What? Poisoned?! Brennan, what the hell is that supposed to mean?' Angela was in shock.

It was too late for Brennan to realize her mistake. 'Long story. Angela, I thought you were going to the club?' she tried to play off.

Angela gave her a suspicious look. 'I was supposed to go to the club with you...' she corrected and stood up…'but since you're not going, I'm not going either…'

'Sorry…'

'It's alright…' Angela said as she was about to walk out. '…I'll swear with Booth's grave, I'll drag you out of here for one night…'

'I do not like the sound of _Booth's grave_… Firstly, Booth's not dead, therefore there's no such grave…' Brennan used logic side. 'Can you swear with something else?'

'I'll see what I can do…' Angela gave her a small wink before disappearing out of sight.

**Booth's place**

'There, I hope you will like it…' Tessa brought the main dinner dish on the table.

Booth smiled and kissed her as she sat down. 'Smells good…' he complimented.

'Thanks…' she replied and began to place steaming food on both of their plates.

Booth was feeling somehow nervous remembering his conversation with Bones and poisoning stuff.

'You should take a bite first…' he offered. 'You did everything by yourself, so…'

'Is everything alright, Seeley?'

'Yeah…' he picked up his fork and took some from his plate, then he lifted to her to take a bite.

Tessa raised her eyebrow, but didn't ask anything else and took a bite from his fork. 'The case?' she asked once she swallowed food in her mouth.

'Yeah, the case…I'm glad it's closed…' Booth said and took a sip of his drink.


	4. The Boy in a Tree

Just another busy day in Jeffersonian… people walking in and out, doing experiments and testing, talking and resting, although one person outside the Institute was feeling restless…

'Bones, where's the kid?' Booth asked as he placed his sunglasses on. They were in his SUV and Brennan just rolled her eyes, obviously knowing what he meant by saying _the_ _kid_. Zack was supposed to come with her right now, but…

'Who's that with Zack?' Angela asked Hodgins as they stood on the platform facing the exit doors.

'Naomi from Paleontology.' he replied and Angela nodded her head. They both looked at them, standing there and talking. 'Naomi and Zack slept together about a month ago. Since then, she hasn't returned a single call.'

'Oh…' Angela only whispered.

'You working on anything interesting?' Hodgins changed the subject looking over her.

'Me?' Angela turned to him surprised, she didn't expect it from him. 'Yeah, yeah, a three-dimensional model of an Etruscan burial crypt.'

'Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.' Hodgins linked his head while keeping his sight to Zack and Naomi.

'You?' Angela asked him this time bringing him to face her.

'Yeah, oh, God, yeah. Very exciting, very exciting.' he looked around. 'Some, uh, silt profiles.'

This time Angela was nodding her head in response and again they both looked over the couple in active conversation.

'God, Etruscan burial crypts are so boring.' she admitted.

'Oh, man, I know. I mean, silt profiles?' Hodgins added too, obviously both of them were not interested in any of the work they were doing. 'You know what we need?' he asked her.

'A murder investigation.' Angela confirmed. 'Brennan and Booth are out front right now, waiting for Zack.'

'What, there's a case? Why didn't you say so?' Hodgins sounded like he just woke up. 'Zack!' he shouted and at the same moment Naomi quickly left. 'You've got to go.' he handed papers to another colleague and together with Angela they began walking down the platform.

'Oh, she really bolted. Doesn't look good for Zack.'

'Come on, Zack. Shake it off, huh? Be a man.' Hodgins tapped on his shoulder.

'You okay, honey?' Angela took a hold on his right elbow.

'She said _take a hint_.' Zack said standing there hopelessly. Hodgins tried to make him to pick up the crime scene case. 'But when I asked, _what hint_?, Naomi said if she told me what hint, then it wouldn't be a hint anymore.' Hodgins walked around him to do the same with the other case. ' it would be a statement.'

'You know what's good?' Hodgins asked. 'Throwing yourself into your work, huh?' he began to pull Zack towards exit, Angela walked beside.

'You really do hate slime profiles. Have a little compassion.' she said and the three of them stopped, Hodgins took a glimpse towards exit and crossed his arms while looking at Zack.

'I understood the individual words, but I do not comprehend her meaning.' Angela was nodding her head.

'Did you tell Naomi that?'

'Yes.' Zack's voice sounded weak. 'She said, _ask your friends, if I have any._'

Angela saw Hodgins nodding his head and without a warning pushed Zack forward with her hand on his shoulder. 'You know, Hodgins is right. Let's not keep Booth waiting.' she said and thought about the possibility to push Booth's patience level. 'Somebody is decomposing as we speak.'

'Get out there and bring us home a case, buddy.' Hodgins said to him with a smile before sliding doors closed in front of them.

**Booth's SUV**

'You said he will be coming with you?' Booth asked cleaning his glasses.

'I did…' Brennan replied. She was looking at the entrance waiting for Zack to come through.

'If he's not showing up within next minute, I'll go there and drag him out myself…' Booth sounded serious.

'No need.' Brennan said. Zack was coming down and hurried to enter the back of the car. Once he settled, Booth turned to look at him.

'Count yourself lucky, kid...'

'What's that mean?'

'Don't listen to him…' Brennan said. Booth just looked at her and started the engine.

'We've got a dead body in a prep school out in the sticks.' Booth said once they drove couple of blocks away.

'Good morning to you too.' Brennan said knowing he was still annoyed with Zack's delayed join.

'You're successful with women, right?' Zack leaned forward to reach Booth. 'I mean they like you...'

Booth ignored Zack's words. 'Okay, look, it's a very prestigious prep school. There's a lot of rich kids…'

'I thought it was good to start with _good morning_.' Brennan carried on with what she had in mind.

'If a woman said to you, _take a hint_, what would it mean?' Zack asked.

'Can we just concentrate on the job?' Booth took off his glasses. He tried to put both of them on the right course, so Zack leaned back to his seat without an answer to his question.

'Suspect has been located. Need assistance…' voice over the FBI radio spoke.

Booth waited a minute before talking again. 'Thank you. Now, I know the sheriff over there. She's mostly okay, but the school's got a lot of pull in the county and she's probably just trying to scrape the whole case off on us…' he saw Brennan looking over the window, her lips squeezed, clearly in the thinking. 'Look, what I'm trying to say is, it's not just a crime scene, but it's a political situation.' Brennan turned to look at him. 'So when we get out there, you follow my lead, and you pay attention.' Booth finished explaining and Zack quickly jumped from his seat as he got electric current running through his body.

'You call after every sexual encounter, right? Because that's the good thing to do…' he tried to make Booth answer, but FBI Agent kept his promise to work.

'Look, this is a work mode. This is a work zone. You do not talk sex at work.'

'First, you tell me I'm too task-oriented, then when I say _good morning_…' Brennan attacked him this time, she showed her hand as she was explaining sarcastically. '…you say that I should concentrate on the job.'

'Okay, look, we got about a 45-minute drive. Hmm? What do you say we pass it in quiet meditation?' Booth spoke quietly, almost whispering. He looked to face Brennan, her face showed no emotion, so Booth just smiled and placed his glasses back on.

**45 minutes of quiet meditation later…**

As they neared the place, Zack recognised it and let out a sigh. 'Finally, can we talk yet?'

'No.' Booth said as SUV passed the main gates.

'Why not?' Brennan asked surprised.

'Because when we're at a crime scene, I do all the talking. My crime scene, my rules.' Booth made it clear for both of them.

'What's will all the security?' she asked as they stopped near the post that actually looked like one. For the security.

'I told you. This is not a regular school.' Booth explained and turned off the engine.

A man left the post and was walking over the front of the SUV. As he stopped by driver's door, Booth lifted his badge.

'FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and a forensic anthropologist…'

Brennan quickly spoke right after Booth mentioned her profession. 'Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute…' that made Booth to take away his badge and roll his eyes.

'Plus one crack assistant.' Zack showed his head out of the back of the car right between Booth and Brennan.

'I'll need to see some ID, please.' security guard wasn't convinced.

Both Brennan and Zack handed him their lab badges.

'This reminds me of where I went to school.' Zack began.

'You don't get much farther from the real world, that's for sure.' Booth said as he was again cleaning his glasses with his tie. 'Whose kids go to school here is actually classified information.'

The guard came back to them. 'Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, I'll lead you to Mr. Sanders, our head of security.' he said while giving back the badges.

'Can you just aim us in the right direction?' Booth asked hoping that the escort will be unnecessary. 'We'll find it.'

'All outsiders are to be escorted, sir.' with that he left the three and something caught Booth's eye.

'Huh, _Omnia_ _Mea_ _Mecum_ _Porto_.' he read on the monument stone while above _Hanover Preparatory Academy _waswritten. 'What's that mean, huh? Regular people stay out?' he tried to make fun of it.

'I carry with me all my things.' Both Brennan and Zack said at the same time with serious looks on their faces. Booth just looked at them, defeated as he remembered that he was with squints here, one of them spoke several languages and English wasn't included to the list. Booth's glasses were back on again and he turned the engine on.

'Yeah.' he said and quickly stepped on the accelerator, causing Zack to fall back roughly.

Quickly, they made their way through the territory of the academy and reached what was supposed to be a crime scene. Local police and sheriffs were already there.

'Hey Seeley, how's it going?'

'Karen, congratulations on being elected full sheriff.' Booth said as he saw her coming to meet them. 'Very impressive.' Upon hearing those words, Karen nodded her head with a smile.

'Agent Booth, I'm Leo Sanders, head of security at Hanover Prep.' one of two men spoke. 'This is Headmaster Peter Ronson.' he looked over another man standing next to him.

'Where are the human remains?' Brennan went straight to business.

'Dr. Temperance Brennan and her assistant, Jack, uh, something…' Booth was having hard time remember his name.

'Zack Addy.' Zack announced loud and clear while looking at how Booth placed chewing gum in his mouth.

'Could you show me to the remains?' Brennan ignored them and reminded the main reason why they were here.

Karen began to walk while others followed her deeper into the territory. As they walked they passed other officers who were talking with potential witnesses such as students or staff members.

'Even though the school was mostly empty during the two-week break, it's impossible to…' Ronson began, but no one listened to him.

Karen was walking besides Brennan. 'I don't know if you remember me, but we worked together on a case…bunch of bones found in the culvert, about a year ago.' Karen tried her luck.

'I remember the bones in the culvert.' Brennan simply said and Booth came closer to her other side.

'You know, Bones, being nice to the locals, remembering their names and such, it wouldn't hurt.'

'Our two-week term break ends tomorrow.' Ronson said as he and Sanders were walking in the end. 'I'd like to get this tidied up, so the students never know what happened.'

'But we don't know what happened yet, that's why I'm here.' Brennan turned around to see the Headmaster. 'Did anyone touch the body?' she turned to Karen. Booth was waving around trying to get annoying bugs off his head.

'I doubt it. It's pretty grisly.' Karen replied.

'Not big on small talk, is she?' Sanders spoke while listening the conversations in front of him.

'Dr. Brennan's very focused.' Booth defended her partner.'

The group passed two medical examiners and stopped next to the open field of grass and couple of benches with it. And no evidence of a dead body being here.

'Where are the remains?' Brennan asked again. Zack placed lab cases on the ground, but none of them noticed Booth and Karen looking up.

'Bones?' Booth said to her and their eyes met. Booth lifted his finger up and Brennan followed his direction.

On the closest tree they were standing next, human remains were hanging on the rope. Couple of crows were on the shoulders of the deceased, trying to get any meat left of the body. The buzzing sound of flies could be heard as well.

'Is that a student?' Booth asked without turning around while taking his sticky notes out of his inside pocket of his suit coat.

'It's a secure campus.' Sanders replied. Both he and Ronson walked closer to Booth. 'Got to be student, staff or faculty.' he added.

'Video first. I don't want your flash disturbing the crows.' Brennan warned Zack as he pulled out the camera.

'Yeah, that'd be a shame.' Sanders said upon hearing her. 'Disturb the human flesh-eating birds.'

'You want to increase the perimeter here?' Booth asked Sanders, not only because there was a possible crime scene, but the way he was making fun of Brennan's orders, he just started to dislike the guy. 'Gentlemen?' now he turned to face both of them. 'Give _my_ forensic anthropologist some room.'

Brennan slightly smiled at his comment about her. '_Your_ forensic anthropologist?' although Booth was too far away to hear.

'Agent Booth, if you decide this is a suicide, it becomes my problem, correct?' Karen spoke after a while.

'Actually, the person who decides of this is a suicide is me.' Brennan quickly cut her off.

Karen stood there stunned for a second. 'Let's give the bone lady some room.' she said and began to walk away. Booth saw her facial expression as she left.

'You know, I'm glad we had that little chat about being nice to the locals.' Booth spoke to her, she turned to face him and for a moment their faces were just as close as they were in shooting range couple of weeks ago.

'I don't like sheriffs.' she said while turning away from Booth. 'They're elected into office, which means their goal is being re-elected, not finding the truth.'

'I got video, Dr. Brennan.' Zack announce after walking around and taking the video footage.

'Go to stills.' she told him.

'Can we just him down from there?' Ronson asked.

'There's a lot of work to do before we get to that.' Brennan said as she walked right above the remains and checked the parts of the remains on the ground which must have probably fell from the main corpse.

'You want to step back, please, sir?' Booth said to Ronson, but he didn't want to listen.

'I'm the headmaster here.'

'And this is a crime scene. Step back.' Booth's tone changed instantly as he showed Ronson back with his hand. '_No way I'm letting this thickhead to ruin my and Bones' work here…_' Booth thought.

Sanders knew better, so he took Ronson and pulled him away from Agent before something worse might happen.

In the mean time Brennan looked up at the remains as she walked around the site. Crows were having fun with the head. Zack came to her side to take photos. The flashlight of the camera scarred the crow and it flew away. Once the animal left, head of the corpse fell off the body and Brennan was able to catch it easily.

'Oh…' Ronson covered his mouth with hand, completely disgusted with the view.

'I'm gonna need an evidence bag.' Brennan said to Booth.

'Heads up.' Booth said while keeping his eyes up, though he heard her request.

This time the rest of the body fell down and crashed on the ground with a thud.

'I'm going to need a bigger bag.' Brennan corrected herself.

Booth just shook his head while Zack kept taking photos.

**Few hours later… Jeffersonian…**

'I make this a male, approximately 5'6'', 130 pounds.' Brennan said as she moved around the table on the main platform. She, Angela, Zack and Hodgins were around the retrieved remains. 'From the looks of the sternum and skull, I'd say mid-adolescence, say, 14 to 17.' she stood next to the head. 'High cheekbones, you think maybe Asian?' she turned back to Angela.

'I'm getting more of a Hispanic vibe.' Angela replied.

'There is a significant crematogaster ant colony in the tree that fed on the body, as well as tabanid maggots.' Hodgins began. 'I'll give you a time-of-death estimate when I figure out who ate what when.'

'Check for insect pupa and larva, see what kind of medications and or drugs might have been in his system.' Brennan said while Hodgins nodded his head.

'He was wearing this.' Zack said to Angela and handed her to what looked like Virgin Mary's Pendant.

'Catholic boy.' Angela took it to get a closer look.

'One-by-two forceps.' Brennan spotted something in the victim's head. She took out her pen-torch and tweezers to retrieve it.

'What is that?' Angela asked.

'Cochlear implant.' Brennan said and handed it to Zack. 'Looks like the birds were trying to get it.'

'That would set a boy apart from the others. Being deaf…' Angela concluded.

'Get a serial number.' Brennan said to Zack.

'I'll get X-rays and 3-D imaging of the entire skeleton.' Angela said.

'I didn't talk to anybody in high school.' Zack said out of sudden. 'I didn't kill myself.'

'That wasn't a high school.' Hodgins said as he was typing on the keyboard. 'It was an experimental eugenics program.' he said as he turned to face them all.

Zack's face frowned while Angela just smiled at their bickering, however Brennan's look made Hodgins to lose his grin.

**In a meantime, Booth was at the academy, trying to sort things out with the authority…**

'How hard can it be to find out which one of your students is missing?'

'We can't just call parents and say _we found a rotting body_. _Do you know where your child is_?' Sanders replied. Together with Ronson they were proceeding downstairs.

'We're going to do roll call tomorrow.' Ronson said.

'All of our higher-risk students are accounted for.' Sanders added.

'Higher-risk?' Booth asked.

'The ones with personal bodyguards.' Sanders explained.

'What are our options vis-à-vis publicity, media?' Ronson asked as they entered his office.

'Not my concern.' Booth replied.

'There are students here we really don't want the whole world to know about.' Sanders turned to face Booth.

'It's obviously a suicide.' Ronson said as he took a seat at his desk. Sanders sat on the side of the desk. 'It's not as though we're asking you to forego the glory of catching a murderer.'

As he finished speaking, Booth's phone began to ring. 'Excuse me, sorry…' he quickly said. 'Booth.'

'We'll have the identity of the boy in the tree within the hour.' Brennan began to give news from her side.

'That was fast.'

'You know what a cochlear implant is?' she asked him.

'Hearing aid?'

'No, not exactly, it's a much more sophisticated piece of equipment, which is surgically…'

'Can you identify him through the serial number?' Booth cut her off.

'That's correct, but the interesting thing is that…'

'You can fill me in later.' he cut her off again.

'Wait, no, but the interesting thing is that his…'

'That's correct.'

'What?' Brennan was confused now.

'That is interesting?' Booth kept his speech in a weird way.

'Are you drunk or something?' she just had to ask.

'We'll catch up later.'

'Wait, wait. I'm not completely certain the boy's death is a suicide.'

'Well, we'll grab some Chinese food and you can fill me in later on all the boring details.' Booth hung up, leaving completely confused Brennan on the other side.

'Sorry.' Booth apologized again.

'Death is very upsetting to a community as tight as ours.' Sanders carried on.

'Well, you're famous for keeping your students safe.' Booth avoided looking at them directly. 'But you can't be held responsible if a troubled student kills himself.' now Booth looked up at them.

'We all agree that suicide is the only feasible conclusion.' Sanders said.

'We understand each other.' Ronson half said half asked.

'Hmm, we sure as hell do.' Booth cleared his throat and turned away from Ronson and Sanders. 'I'll need a complete enrollment list, including teachers, staff, students.' he turned back to them as he spoke.

Sanders shook his head slightly. 'That's extremely confidential information.' he explained.

Booth scoffed. 'Luckily, I'm good at keeping secrets.' he gave them a serious look and turned around again to leave.

**Back at the Jeffersonian…**

'What do you mean it's not a suicide?' Booth made his way back to the Institute and now his way to the platform where Brennan was looking over X-rays. However, as he crossed the stairs alarm went on.

'Hold on a second, sir.' Security guard stopped him from going further.

'We can't have just anyone step into the forensics area, and contaminate all the boring details.' Brennan said as Zack showed his badge to the guard and then swiped it over.

'The boring details?' Booth asked surprised, but then remembered that he said to her like that and got even more surprised when someone from behind tried to make its way. 'Do not push me, kid.' Booth turned around immediately as he saw Zack behind him.'

'_Boring details _was my signal for you to stop talking. Okay?' Booth moved closer. 'I want my own card.' he was tired of not being able to enter the platform any time he wanted.

'Well, I want my own gun.' Brennan counter-attacked him.

'Last time you had a gun, you shot someone.' Booth reminded her.

'He was a bad guy.' Zack came to defence.

'Okay, look, who's our victim?' Booth wanted to get back to business.

'All the boring details?' she bit him as she walked around the remains.

'Let it go, Bones. Move on.' Booth simply said.

'Don't call me _Bones_.' Brennan warned him.

'We traced the cochlear implant to Dr. Maurice Ledbetter at Cedars-Sinai, who placed it in a boy named Nestor Olivos.' Zack began.

Booth was looking through their papers. 'Nestor Olivos. Student Visa. Son of a Venezuelan Ambassador.' Booth lowered down the papers and reached for X-rays.

'You want all the boring details?' Brennan asked him just to confirm.

'Let it go, Bones.' Booth easily spilled out not even looking at her.

Brennan snatched X-rays from his hand. 'Don't call me _Bones._' she said through gritted teeth. 'The boy's hyoid bone is broken.' she walked around again.

'Strangulation death, the hyoid is always broken.' Booth confirmed as turned around watch Brennan as she walked past him closely.

'In adults. This was a boy.' Zack corrected.

'His hyoid is flexible.' Brennan said while looking at the screen. 'Unbreakable.'

'Well, maybe the kid's got some kind of Venezuelan brittle bone syndrome?' this time Booth tried to be rational. Zack just let out a quiet sigh and rolled his eyes while Brennan looked up at him. 'I'm just trying to help.' Booth said. 'So you're saying he was murdered?'

'No, I'm saying I don't know what happened to the boy, because I don't have all the facts.' Brennan said as she stood straight facing Booth.

Suddenly, both Booth and Brennan's phones began to ring. Both of them shared a quick look, knowing where they need to go next.

**FBI Bureau…**

'How hard can it be? A kid hanging from a tree…obviously, it's a suicide.' Santana said as Booth, Brennan and Goodman were sitting in field office.

'Sir, has Hanover prep been stirring the pudding on this?' Booth asked.

'Of course they're stirring the pudding.' Santana replied. 'Every mover and shaker in this town is connected to that damn school, apparently, the very future of this country is at stake.'

'I'd like to declare it a murder, just to shake those little…' Booth bit his teeth together.

'I'm not going to declare it a murder, just so you can shake things up.' Brennan quickly interrupted while holding her fists in the air, shaking them.

Booth just gave her a look and Brennan turned away from him. Santana just shook his head.

'The evidence is ambiguous at best.' Goodman began.

'Well, unambiguize it.' Santana said. 'Please, Dr. Goodman, look you're very experienced within your field of bones and such, right? Doesn't your gut say _suicide_?' Santana was now playing as Booth.

'I don't actually use my gut for that, sir.' Brennan explained.

'She really, really doesn't.' Booth defended her, knowing her better.

'Like all of us at the Jeffersonian, Dr. Brennan prefers science to the digestive tract.' Goodman explained that it's not working that way for them.

'What about your gut?' Santana asked Booth.

'My gut says it stinks.'

'If he smells with his gut, what does he use his nose for?' Goodman said and Brennan let out a small laugh. Booth, obviously heard it, giving her annoying look.

'All right, in order for an investigation to occur, you Dr. Brennan, have to declare it a murder.'

'Without an investigation, we can't find out if it's a murder, but there'll be no investigation unless Dr. Brennan declares it to be a murder.' Goodman tried to understand what was happening. Then he turned to Brennan. 'Shall I send for a philosopher?' he asked.

'They're saying it's my call.' she replied to Goodman.

'You see? It's how you talk to these people.' Santana said.

Brennan was looking at Booth, then she turned to Santana. 'My official finding is that Nestor Olivos…' she took a second to look around them. '…is a victim of a homicide.'

**Booth's SUV**

'Thank you.' Booth said as they drove away from the Bureau. It was already late evening, but still there was one place they needed to visit before they could call it a night.

'For what?' Brennan asked.

'For going with my instincts in there.' Booth explained.

'No, I did not back up your instincts.' she defended herself. 'I brought time to find the facts I need to tell me what happened to Nestor Olivos. What's with you and the private school?'

'They thought we understood each other.'

'That's bad? Understanding the people?'

'I don't like people who think they're better than other people.'

'Some people are better than other people.'

'You know, what you just said right there, that is so un-American. All men are created equal, either you believe that, or you don't.'

'And some people are smarter than others, there's no use being offended by the fact.'

Booth laughed at her words and Brennan just looked over the window. 'What are we going to tell Nestor's parents?' she asked.

'We tell them that their son was found dead, we're looking into it, sorry for your loss.' he pointed it like a prayer while turning to look at her. 'And we are.' he finished.

'What?'

'Sorry for their loss.' Booth repeated. 'It's sad. Try to remember that.'

Brennan agaped at his advice. 'I'm not a sociopath.'

'You're bad with people.' Booth accused her. 'No use being offended by the fact.'

Brennan looked at him, clearly offended now, until her sight focused towards the road.

**Ambassador's Residence, Venezuelan Embassy**

'Hanging from a tree at the school?'

'I'm afraid so, Ambassador Olivos.' Booth confirmed. 'We will provide you with full details when Dr. Brennan finishes her investigation.

'Will you need us to identify Nestor's remains?' Oraldo asked.

'That won't be necessary.' Brennan replied and handed Mary's Pendant to Nestor's mother.

When was the last time you heard from Nestor?' Booth asked.

A few days after his holiday began.' Oraldo answered. 'He went with a friend to Nova Scotia.'

'We received an e-mail.' Ambassador Olivos added.

'Could we have a copy?' Booth asked while looking at Oraldo.

'It'll help up determine exactly when the victim died.' Brennan explained and felt a slight nudge on her left side. Booth was _correcting _ her. 'Your son. We're very sorry for your loss.'

Ambassador Olivos just took a sigh while looking up at Brennan.

'There was nothing to suggest in the e-mail that Nestor was unhappy.' Oraldo began while Brennan looked at Booth and then at him. 'Certainly not enough to…'

'We would like to take him home.' Ambassador cut Oraldo off, still holding his hand all this time. 'We must petition the church to bury him in consecrated ground.' she was looking up at Oraldo.

'Nestor was an altar boy.' he said to her. 'They will bury him properly.' then he turned to Booth. 'When will you release him to us?'

'That's up to Dr. Brennan.' Booth said and she just nodded her head.

**Jeffersonian…**

'What did Naomi mean when she dais, _take a hint_?' Zack asked Hodgins while looking at Nestor neck's X-rays. They were both on the platform, their backs facing each other. Zack was still anxious to understand this kind of a female's secrecy.

'Ooh.' was all Hodgins said.

'What did I do wrong?' Zack asked as he heard it.

'It's not what you did wrong; it's what you didn't do.' Hodgins explained as he was doing his own tests.

'Where do you learn this stuff?' Zack asked as he turned around.

'Some things you learn by doing: riding a bike, driving a car, pleasing a woman…'

'I can't ride a bike or drive a car.' Zack admitted.

Hodgins leaned his head to the side slightly. 'Or apparently, please a woman.'

'I need specific instructions.' Zack stood up from his seat and walked over his colleague. 'A list of techniques to implement or a sequence of moves.'

Hodgins stood up as well. 'I'm not really the guy to talk about that.'

'Why not? You've slept with, like 10,000 women.' Zack was persisted.

'Because our relationship is all about what's up here.' Hodgins waved his hands in front of Zack, holding a bottle in one of them. 'What you need to do is talk to someone more…earthy.' he waved his palms flat above the ground indicating what he just said and then turned to walk away leaving Zack standing there alone and confused.

**FBI Bureau…**

Booth and Brennan returned back to his office, not only Sanders and Ronson in presence, but…

'As a school psychiatrist, I'm bound by patient confidentiality. In the absence of a warrant or permission from his parents, I can't divulge the specifics of my meetings with Nestor Olivos.' Dr. Petty spoke. 'I can tell you that he was at extreme risk of suicide.'

'There are no indications that Nestor was taking antidepressants.' Brennan disagreed.

'I can only make recommendations to the parents.'

'You think this boy was depressed enough to hang himself from a tree?' Booth asked.

'He was alienated by culture, by language, by his handicap, by his own social awkwardness. Yes.'

'Thank you for coming down, Dr. Petty.' Ronson said. ' As we suspected, suicide.' he made a conclusion on his own. Dr. Petty stood up to leave. 'A depressed and lonely boy hangs himself over the holiday.'

'So how's the son of an Ambassador go missing for two weeks and nobody notices?' Booth leaned away from his chair.

'As far as the school was concerned, Nestor was vacationing with his roommate.' this time Sanders spoke up. 'The school requested and received a waiver from Ambassador Olivos.' he walked over Booth's desk and dropped the piece of paper.

'I was in Venezuela last year. It's very unstable politically.' Brennan shared her experience while Booth read the waiver.

'It's true the family received threats and we were cognizant of that.' Sanders carried on. 'But you aren't seriously suggesting that some kind of Venezuelan hit squad assassinated a student at Hanover Prep?' Brennan was looking at him as he talked.

'Like the doctor said, it's a simple case of a depressed boy ending his life, not a Tom Clancy novel.' Ronson stood up as he finished his conclusion.

'Yeah, we'll start with Nestor's roommate tomorrow morning.' Booth said and both Sanders and Ronson turned to him. Booth just took a seat in his chair as Sanders and Ronson shared a quick look.

'It's your investigation.' Sanders agreed and together with Ronson they left Booth's office.

'You hungry?' Booth asked Brennan.

'Yeah…' she replied.

**Wong Fu's…**

'Hey…' the guy at the entrance greeted Booth. 'I'll say this, she's tall.' he looked over Brennan walking behind them.

'Dr. Temperance Brennan, meet Sid, the owner.' Booth introduced them since he wasn't around the last time Booth and Brennan were here.

Sid turned to face Brennan. 'Hey, bone lady.' they shook hands.

'The sign says _Wong Foo's._' she noticed difference in the name of the place. Booth was making his way to sit down on the corner booth.

'Family name change at Ellis Island.' Sid explained. 'I'll get your meal.' he turned on his heels.

'But we didn't order.' Brennan said as she took mini pretzel from the table they were sitting at.

'No, Sid knows what people want better than they do.' Booth explained, knowing this place and Sid for a long time.

Just as he thought he will get some time of peace and relaxation, the rest of the gang came in.

'Nestor's bones are completely normal, not brittle in any way.' Zack was the first to speak, he dropped the folder on the table and took a place next to Brennan. Angela and Hodgins did the same on Booth's side.

'You know, this is kind of my little getaway place, you know?' Booth was irritated as he had to move to make some space.

'The grooves the rope left in the branch where Nestor was hanging are too deep for his weight.' Angela continued Zack's path of their findings.

'Please, everyone, come on, sit down.' Booth said sarcastically as he rested his arms on the back of seat.

'Eggs, larvae, waste…all indicate that the insects which fed on the body are indigenous to the tree in which he was found.' Hodgins revealed his findings. 'Which means he died there approximately 10 to 14 days ago…I'll have the seven-organ soup.' he was looking over the menu of the restaurant now.'

Brennan was looking over the photos which were made and brought by Zack. 'You don't order. The guy just brings it.'

'He didn't void.' Zack began. 'Usually somebody that hangs themselves, the floodgates open. Bodily fluids everywhere.'

'There was plenty of effluent in his clothes, but they're all post-decomposition. As the body swells, it bursts from internal gases.' Hodgins spoke as if they were back in the lab, Booth just wrinkled at the photos laid out on the table. 'How's the guy know what you want?' he asked while taking a pretzel.

'The guy has a knack.' Brennan waved her hand.

'The guy's name is Sid.' Booth tried to talk some sense.

'It was birds who ate his eyes, ears and worked their way into the skull…' Zack said.

'Birds pecking at the soft tissue at the throat…could that crack the hyoid?' Hodgins wondered and another pretzel reached his mouth.

'No, it's a stress fracture caused by the rope against his throat…not postmortem.' Brennan replied again looking over the photos.

'You put a sensitive adolescent in a high-pressure prep school, add social alienation, cultural differences…' Angela was counting on her fingers, Booth looked from one side to the other, helplessly. '…pressure from high-achieving parents, it could be suicide.'

'It's not a suicide.' Booth said and grabbed a bowl of pretzels from the table.

'Because Booth thinks that prep schools turn out entitled criminals.' Brennan said and dropped the papers on the table.

'We all went to private school, none of us are criminals.' Hodgins disagreed.

'In fact, we fight criminals.' Zack added. 'We're crime fighters.' he gathered some of photos and other paperwork to his reach.

'No, not you…' Booth pointed his finger. 'You're…' he couldn't finish that. 'I'm just saying it's not a suicide.'

'I'm a big believer in instinct.' Angela supported Booth.

'Finally, a squint with an open mind.' Booth said in appreciation.

'You have no idea how open-minded I can be.' Angela warned him slightly.

Finally, Sid and two other workers came over with the food, though he noticed the photos of not really well looking thing on it. 'What's with these pictures? This is a restaurant. People come here to eat.' he looked closely at one of them. 'What's the matter with you people? Booth, what the hell did you bring in my place?'

'I had nothing to do with it.' Booth defended himself as he shook the sauce bottle.

'This is exactly what I wanted.' Brennan said as she separated chopsticks. 'This is amazing. The guy definitely has a knack.'

Hodgins removed the lid from his food bowl. 'Ooh…' he leaned forward to smell it. 'So you do take orders.'

'Of course we do.' Sid said seriously. 'But it's always better when you leave it to me.' he was about to walk away. 'Booth.' he warned.

'All right, I'll take care of it.' he assured Sid. 'You're saying the boy died 10 to 14 days ago?' Booth asked Hodgins.

'Hey, bugs buzz, but they do not lie.' he was holding a spoon full of one of the _organs_ until it was in his mouth.

'Hodgins is very good at using insects to ascertain the time of death.' Brennan praised her colleague before taking noodles in with chopsticks.

'How do you explain an e-mail that was sent seven days ago from Nova Scotia?' Booth unfolded the paper. 'Hmm?' Brennan looked at him. 'See? Look at that.' he handed her the paper. 'It stinks. Go ahead – smell it.' Booth was again on his gut thing which made Brennan to look at him annoyed. 'You know you want to smell it. It stinks.'

'Don't, don't smell that.' Angela warned Hodgins out of nowhere.

'No, no, you've got to taste it.' Hodgins was holding another full spoon.

'I can smell it from here.' Angela said as Hodgins took a bite sip of it.

'Ang, it's so good. Mm.' Hodgins took it as Angela was dealing with her own food.

'That's really gross.' she said as Hodgins brought his bowl closer to her face.

They spend the rest of the evening uninterrupted and managed to finish their dishes. Sid didn't bother them anymore with his mood of disgust from seeing photos Zack brought in…

**Next morning…FBI Bureau, Interrogation Room…**

What Booth said to Ronson and Sanders, in fact, happened.

'You and Nestor were roommates for three months, correct?' Booth asked.

'Yes, sir.' Tucker Pattison confirmed.

'And you invited him to spend the vacation with you?'

'We have a summer home on Cape Breton, plenty of room.' Mrs. Pattison answered for her son. Booth walked over to sit on the end of the table.

'Then Nestor decided to go back home to Venezuela.' Tucker said.

'What di the other kids say about Nestor?' Booth asked him.

Tucker glanced at his interlocked fingers. 'Nestor was different.' then he lifted his hand to the ear. 'He sued to be deaf, so he kind of talked like…' he brought his fingers together again. 'Some kids called him _retard_.'

'Tucker, please don't say _retard.' _his mother chastened him while shaking her head.

'I never called him that!' Tucker felt offended as if they thought he called Nestor like that. 'H went to church every Sunday, even though nobody made him go.' he turned to Booth. 'People thought that was weird.'

'Did Nestor have a girlfriend?' Booth asked.

'He said there was a girl he liked, but he never told me who.'

'You know, Tucker, you're lying to a federal agent.' Booth sensed in his tone.

'Careful, Agent Booth.'

'An e-mail was sent to Nestor's parents from Nova Scotia saying what a great time he was having.' Booth ignored the lawyer named Dawn James who was sitting at the same interrogation room. 'The only thing is that Nestor was already dead…'

'Was it you, Tucker?' his mother asked although Tucker didn't move his eyes from Booth.

I'd prefer he didn't answer.' Dawn offered.

'No, Dawn, if it was Tucker, he has to admit it.' Tucker's father spoke up.

'You know the dodge.' Tucker began.

'You backed him up so he could be with a girl?' Booth more stated than asked and stood up.

'Tucker!' his mother wasn't delighted with it.

'I know!' Tucker admitted. 'I'm sorry, but he begged me.'

'What girl?' Booth asked as he now took a chair to sit.

'I told you I don't know.' Tucker repeated again. 'I thought Nestor made her up.' he then turned to his mother. 'I sent an e-mail. That's all.' he turned back to Booth.

Agent just smirked at his testify.

**In a meantime…Jeffersonian…**

Brennan was at her office looking at the footage of Nestor's remains on the tree with crows around it, when Dr. Goodman entered with someone behind him.

'Dr. Brennan, could you spare a moment for the Venezuelan Ambassador?' he asked while Brennan turned off the video and stood up to meet them.

'Thank you.' Ambassador Olivos said to Goodman. He nodded his head and made his way out.

Brennan shook hands with Olivos. 'Is there something I can do for you?'

'I understand that you are very good at your job, Dr. Brennan.' Olivos began. 'But I think that you are not a mother, correct?' Olivos handed her a framed photo. of Nestor is his altar clothes.

'No, I'm not a mother.' Brennan confirmed and took a photo.

'Please, watch this.' Olivos handed her a case of CD.

Brennan placed the photo on her table and walked over to place a disc into the player.

'All a mother wants to know is that she has raised her child well, that he will grow up to be a good man. I will never see this, I will never know.'

Brennan looked at her and played the video.

'The day Nestor received his implant…' Olivos explained as there was Nestor showing behind his ear.

'_Nestor_?' it was Olivos' voice in the video. '_Te Amo…_' she carried on.

'The first day that he could hear…' Brennan said.

'And the first thing he heard was my voice.' Olivos confirmed.

'_Te Amo…_' Olivos repeated her words in video. Nestor reacted to the sound and words he heard for the first time, so his mother hugged him in happiness.

'His mother's voice….' Brennan began.

'I told him I love him…' Olivos explained her words in English.

Brennan stopped the video as Olivos spoke again. 'The child who has lived through this miracle would never take his own life.' Brennan turned to her. 'You're scientist, you need more than a mother's reassurance, fine…' she walked closer to Ambassador. '…my husband and I have many enemies.' Olivos admitted. 'That is why I sent Nestor to Hanover., they promised us that he would be safe. What if they failed? They would not what to admit it, they would do everything they could to bias you towards suicide…'

'I promise you I will find out the truth.' Brennan assured her.

'Thank you.' like to Goodman, she said the same to Brennan and with that she left her office.

Moments later Angela came by. 'Hey, there's something you need to see…Booth is here as well…'

'Okay…' Brennan said and took her coat. 'Hey, how was the roommate interrogation?' she asked Booth.

'Eh, so, so…' he scowled at the memory of it. Angela was setting her mighty device known as The Angelator.

'Swan dive, cannonball, cherry bomb…no matter how he jumps the hyoid does not break.' Angela was naming terms and running the simulation of body-turned-skeleton jumping from the tree with the rope around its neck.

'What about added weight?' Brennan asked. Booth stood up behind her.

'We figure an added strain of 90 kilos to snap the hyoid.' Angela tapped on the tabloid.

'90 kilos is just under 200 pounds…the weight of a muscular man.' Brennan said. Booth moved to stood between them.

'What? The Venezuelan hit-squad fantasy thing?' he asked. 'For one thing, it's nuts and another, your guy would have to be about 20 feet tall.' Booth calculated and walked away from them.

'I'm out of alternative scenarios to explain this hyoid break.' Angela said and moved away as well to turn off the device while Brennan was still looking at the simulation until it faded away.

'There's something I want to check in academy…' Booth said. 'Care to join me?' he asked Brennan.

'Sure.' she replied and they were on their way to school.

Since they showed their ID's, so far they had no problems getting into the school premises.

'I want to take another look at Nestor's room.' Booth said as they were walking the corridor near the stairs leading to another floor.

'What exactly do you hope to find?' Brennan asked with curiosity.

As they were about to proceed upstairs, a man was descending down and for the moment all three of them stopped until the mysterious man turned around running upstairs.

'Stay here.' Booth said hoping that Brennan would listen to him, he was wrong.

'Yeah, right, that's gonna happen.' she quickly walked past him, so Booth had no other option, but just follow her upstairs.

Brennan entered Nestor's room, hoping to find that man, but room was quietly empty. Just as she walked further someone from behind closed the doors shut and she immediately turned around, it was the same man. She took no time to kick him in the chest and he just stumbled backwards to the door. However, doors were opened again and the man stumbled forward, making himself a good target for Brennan to trip him up. Booth entered the room as the man fell down on the floor. He quickly stood up and was about to punch Booth in the face when Booth dodged his fist and then punched him three times just enough to put him on the ground again. Booth shook his fist to ease the stinging feeling and turned to Brennan with his palm open like a karate fighter.

'You all right?'

Brennan was still in attack stance with her fists ready to charge. 'Are you?' she asked him in return.

Booth just walked over the man and looked for his identity proof. 'Check his ID.' he tossed her man's wallet.

'His name's Tovar Comara.' she closed wallet. 'He's security at the Venezuelan Embassy.' and tossed it back to Booth.

'If he's security, why'd he run?' Booth asked as he checked the ID for himself.

Comara began to regain consciousness after being grounded.

'Let's find some answers, shall we?' Booth said as he gripped him by his arm to stand him up.

**Embassy…**

'What we would like to know is what Señor Comara was doing in Nestor's room.' Brennan went straight to the point as they entered Olivos' office.

'I asked Señor Comara to go to Nestor's room to prove a point.' Olivos explained while Comara looked at her. His left eye had noticeable bruise under. 'That suicide was not the only possibility.'

'To prove that an outsider can get to your son?' Booth asked.

'The school informed me that Nestor's death was most certainly a suicide.' Olivos nodded her head as she spoke. 'That anything else was impossible.'

'We proved them correct.' Comara spoke. 'I failed to escape without being detected.' he took a glance up at Brennan.

'The school lied to you, Ambassador.' Brennan said.

'Dr. Brennan already declared your son's death a homicide.' Booth added.

Olivos took a second to respond. 'I apologize. I was misinformed.'

'I won't be pressing any charges.' Booth assured her.

'Thank you.' Olivos replied and at that moment a man entered the office. 'Please excuse me.' Olivos said, grabbed papers off her desk and got up. Comara did the same while Olivos with another guard walked out. Olivos met the man on the doorstep and the two began to speak Spanish while leaving the office.

'Do you think Nestor was killed by outsiders?' Brennan asked Comara.

'Not Venezuelan insurgents.' he slightly shook his head. 'They would make a statement, not fake a suicide. This hanging…Huele malo…'

'Hm…' Brennan mumbled until Booth placed his hand on her arm and pushed her towards the exit.

'Sure, you know, someone says, you know, it smells in a Spanish accent, and all of a sudden you're like, _hmm, interesting…_'

**Academy…**

They returned back from where they came from.

'What are we looking for?' Brennan asked.

'Talked to Nestor's teachers, the few students that he hung out with. He was a loner.' Booth walked past her. 'Well, I mean, he want to his classes, but, you know, mainly he just stayed here in his room.' Booth gave her some insights of what he was able to find out so far. He turned around to look at her. 'That's it, so I figured, you know, we'd come here, and you, uh, do your little anthropologist thing, huh?' he gestured his hands around each other in a circle while smiling at her.

Brennan just laughed. 'Okay.' she walked over one of the tables. 'He liked music.' she lifted couple of CDs. 'Heavy percussion, low frequencies for the most part.' she gathered more of them in her hands. 'the stuff he probably liked before the implant, he could feel the vibrations in his chest.'

Booth was looking over noticeboard though he listened to her every word.

'After the implant, he started…enjoying stuff with more melody, he was growing, he enjoyed it.'

Booth turned to her. 'Enjoyment is the opposite of suicide.' he waved his hands away.

'You've decided this isn't a suicide, so you're collecting evidence to support that.' Brennan left the CDs and walked closer while Booth picked up the trach bin, investigating it. 'By closing your mind, you're missing important indicators.'

'Oh, yeah? So then why'd he throw this away?' Booth took half-broken disc without the case. Brennan tried to snatch it from him, but Booth was quicker. 'I mean, it's flute music. That's reason enough.' he lifted the disc up again. 'But where's the case?' he asked.

Brennan looked at him, shaking her head. 'Uh…' she looked over the other side of the room. There were more CDs in the bookshelf. They both came closer to it. 'These aren't organized.' she bent down a bit.

'Well, you know, girls, they organize alphabetically. Guys are more organic…you know, good stuff up to the left, crap…' he squatted. '…bottom right.' he took out the case as they both stood up. 'Look at that.' Booth opened the case. There was a disc in there with some marker writing – _Mozart Concerto For Flute & Violin_. 'Well, I mean, if he hated it, why'd he reburn it?' Booth asked as he took out the disc.

Brennan looked over it and took it for a closer look. 'This isn't a CD.' she said and looked at him. 'It's a DVD.'

**Jeffersonian…**

They both decided to return to the lab to check what was hidden behind that DVD. As soon as Angela started as they all were in her office, Booth chuckled at the view.

Two teens were making out and undressing each other on the bed, knees against knees.

'I should've known.' Booth said. 'It's a 15-year-old boy.' he turned to Brennan who was sitting behind him. 'It's just porn.' he turned back to screen.

'Wait.' Brennan said and Angela adjusted the video to going back and then in slow-mo while zooming it in.

'That's our hanging victim.' Angela recognized Nestor in the video.

'This is pretty kinky stuff.' Zack said.

'I need to know where and when it was shot, what kind of camera, anything else that might help.' Brennan immediately turned to Angela, Booth gathered his coat and stood up nearly as the same time Brennan did.

'I'm gonna need stills and a close-up of the girl's face.' Booth made his request too.

Hodgins just belched. 'Thanks a lot, Booth…' he groaned. My seven-organ soup is repeating on me.' he complained.

'Well, you ordered it.' Booth was not feeling any blame. 'You should have left it to Sid.' he advised Hodgins. 'Let's see what the school has to say about this.' he walked out, Brennan behind him. Angela stood up to work on what was needed now. That left Zack and Hodgins sitting alone on the couch.

Hodgins tapped Zack's arm. 'That was not wild and kinky sex. It was very, very basic beginner stuff.' Hodgins tapped his shoulder. 'Just so you know.' and again, he belched and coughed as his late food was still reminding him of the consequences. 'Angela, you got any bicarbonate?' he asked as he stood up.

Zack was left alone now with the video still on. Girl was now on top of Nestor and Zack just looked around the office.

**Academy…**

Before Brennan and Booth left, Angela handed them photos of screenshots from the footage. Now those photos where in the hands of Sanders, though he wasn't surprised.

'We've seen this kind of thing before…'

'Kids recording themselves having sex?' Brennan was surprised at how eased Sanders was in this situation.

'Young people are more jaded than they used to be.' Ronson spoke. 'Sometimes they'd swap these tapes.'

'Surprised to see Nestor.' Sanders said as he walked over Ronson's desk and placed the photos on it.

'But not so surprised to see the girl?' Booth asked.

'How is that relevant?' Ronson asked while gathering photos in his hands.

'You know what's a better question? What makes you think you get to decide what's relevant? You're basically a principal of a high school.' Brennan stated the obvious.

Ronson just stared at her in silence.

'We need to see all of the sex tapes you've confiscated.' Booth requested.

'Absolutely not.' Ronson didn't think twice.

Booth turned to Brennan. 'Well, I'll just get a warrant…' they both looked towards the principal. '…and in the application for a warrant, I'll include your admission that you allow your students to swap homemade sex tapes.' Booth reminded them who they are dealing with although Ronson rolled his eyes.

'The headmaster is not refusing to provide you with the tapes.' Sanders quickly explained.

'_Absolutely not _sound like a refusal.' Brennan wanted to make it clear.

'When we confiscate the tapes, we immediately turn them over to local law enforcement.' Sanders explained further.

'Sheriff Roach knew about this?' Booth calmly asked.

'no need to issue a warrant, we're cooperating completely.' Sanders confirmed.

'Was the girl also a student here?' Brennan asked.

'Given your hostility, it's time we bring in a lawyer to advise us.' Ronson said with his hands lifted up and to the sides.

'Or you take my advice.' Booth began in a low voice. 'If you don't answer my questions, I'll take you down to FBI Headquarters in handcuffs.' he warned though it wasn't only about Booth himself, he was bothered with the fact that Brennan's question was left unanswered.

Ronson felt defeated, evidence on his face.

'He'll do it, he doesn't like you.' Brennan agreed. She knew what Booth was capable of. Booth shook his head to confirm her words.

Ronson looked up at Sanders and the latter just showed his hand in acceptance.

'Fine, Agent Booth…' Ronson began as he was holding photos again. '…her name is Camden Destry.'

**FBI Bureau…Interrogation Room…**

Just as they brought Tucker in this morning, the same they did with Camden.

'Nestor Olivos?' she asked. 'I knew him.' she admitted. 'He's kind of famous since he died.' she added. Booth walked around them like a hawk while Brennan was behind the mirror glass.

'Poor kid, to take his own life.' Camden's mother said sadly.

'Were you romantically involved?' Booth asked as he took a chair to sit.

'No.' Camden replied calmly.

'Camden is too young to date seriously.' mother defended her daughter.

'Too young?' Booth asked them and frowned his face. 'Tell me when you've seen enough to start telling the truth.' he placed his legs on the table, not even to bother that there was Camden's father sitting on the other side. Booth played the video they first discovered.

'Oh, my God.' Camden's tone changed to confused. 'I can't believe this. Oh, my God! Where did that come from?' Camden turned to Booth.

'Really, Mr. Booth, I must protest.' Camden's father added.

'I'm tired of being lied to, so excuse me if I'm indelicate.' Booth was quite irritated. 'Let's start over, shall we?' he got up and moved his chair in the way he could face Camden's profile. 'Did you know Nestor Olivos?' Camden nodded her head. 'Were you romantically involved?'

Camden looked over the screen again, not believing what she's seeing right now. 'What would he do that?' her voice had sobbing tone now. 'Why would Nestor tape us? I loved him.' Camden felt her mother's touch on her back and just leaned into her arms.

Booth just let out a sigh and looked over the mirror while Brennan was observing the whole scene and having thoughts of her own. There was nothing else left to do, but just to let Camden's family go. For now.

'Who you calling now?' Brennan entered the Interrogation room where Booth was still sitting on the same chair, only difference now was that he dialling.

'Time to bring the rest of the tapes on.'

**20 minutes later…**

Sun was already going down with the warning that the day is going to end although not for everyone, yet…Booth arranged to meet Sheriff on the side of the town.

'So let me just get this right…' Brennan began as they both left the SUV and she was walking over Booth's side. '…I'm the tactless and insensitive one?' she was definitely attacking Booth right now.

Booth placed his right feet on the tire to fix his shoelaces. 'Okay, the girl lied to a federal agent during the investigation of the death of a boy that she said she loves.' he moved away from the tire. 'You know what? These kids, they all lie.' he looked away from her. 'That school teaches them that they're special.' he carried on talking. Brennan crossed her arms on her chest upon listening to him. 'That they're above the rest of us; well, they're not.'

'You're the least objective person I've ever met.' Brennan let her arms loose with one resting over the window frame of the driver door.

'Thank you.' he simply said.

'It's not a compliment.' Brennan explained.

'Aw, come on, Bones, you know something's wrong here, right?' Booth tried to open her eyes more.

'The school, the tapes, now Sheriff Roach…' as he mentioned Karen's surname, a police car stopped behind Booth's SUV.

'All this mess you're uncovering, it smells, yes, but it doesn't add up to murder, not logically.'

'Maybe if you look for more than the facts…' Booth began.

Brennan cut him off. 'Maybe if you opened your mind, we could find out the actual truth.' now they were arguing over the back mirror.

'Brought you the tapes.' woman's voice spoke from behind Brennan.

'How many?' she asked.

'All of them.' Karen said sarcastically and nearly showed the box right before Brennan took it with her own hands. 'What do you think, I'm withholding evidence?' she asked.

Brennan walked over the front of the car without saying anything to Karen.

'I'm thinking Hanover Prep gets you elected, and you look the other way when you see these tapes.' Booth made an accusation.

'Kids having sex? There's no law against that.' Karen stated.

'Let's hope that's the worst thing that we find.' Booth walked towards making Karen to step back as he got inside SUV. Brennan was already waiting for him.

Karen didn't say anything and just walked over her own car.

**FBI Bureau…**

Another couple was making out in one of the video's Karen gave them.

'You were right about the school…_serving pudding_.'

'_Stirring the pudding_…' Booth corrected her. 'It means…' he wanted to explain further, but…

'Melodee Destry.' Brennan recognized the woman from the tape.' That's Camden's mother.' she pointed her finger to the screen. 'Is that…is that Nestor Olivos she's with?' she tried to recognize the other person.

'Nope…' Booth said with light voice, this time focusing more on the screen. 'That's Nestor's roommate, Tucker Pattison.' Booth recognized another participant of the video.

**Couple of hours later…**

'How long did the sexual relationship continue?'

'A couple of months, I don't know.' Tucker defended himself. He was there with his father and Dawn.

'Tucker is the underage victim of statutory rape.' Dawn said defending Tucker herself.

'When did it end?' Booth asked, ignoring Dawn's statement. He was twisting his wristwatch between his fingers.

'That was the last time.' Tucker admitted.

'Why Nestor's bed? Why not your own?' Booth half said half shouted. 'It was only ten feet away.

'I don't know.'

'It was because you knew exactly where the camera was pointed.'

'Mrs. Destry gave me money, you know, to keep quiet.' Tucker looked at his father, then back at Booth. 'Nestor said, _How much do you think she'd pay to keep her husband from seeing a tape_? Nestor set up a drop and got $5,000. He said we should do it again but, just before vacation, I told him that I was going to tell my parents, even if it meant getting kicked out of Hanover. The next thing I know…he killed himself. I figure it was my fault.' Tucker again was looking at his father who shook his head and turned to look away.

**Jeffersonian…**

'Tabanid pupal casings show the boy ingested a heavy dose of ketamine before he died. Kids call it _Special K.' _Hodgins explained as he with Brennan met Booth at the entrance of the lab.

'So somebody dosed him, right?' Booth wanted to make it clear. 'That explains why he wasn't struggling during the hanging.'

'Or… a wild thought… he took it himself for fun like most kids do.' Brennan gave her opinion.

As the three of them approached the platform and Hodgins swiped his ID other conversation was going on behind them.

'I had sex with Naomi in Paleontology.' Zack admitted.

'You mean actually in Paleontology?' Angela asked just to be clear.

'No, at her place.' Zack walked over to the other side. 'I though it went great, but I could be wrong. Because, apparently, what I think is wild and kinky is just basic.' Zack took out his ID card to swipe. 'And, since she never called me back, I'm wondering if it's because I lack imagination in the sack.' he turned to Angela.

'You know what, Zack?' she began. 'I'm thinking this is more of a guy-guy conversation.'

'Yeah…' Zack agreed. 'I was wondering.' Angela left him and he proceeded the platform alone while… suddenly Hodgins let out a burp.

'Dude, minty burp is still a burp.' Booth said while pointing a pair of tweezers at him. Brennan quickly snatched it from him with gritted teeth.

'Yeah, well, who took me to Won Salmonella's?' Hodgins bit back with sarcasm.

'All right, you know what?' Booth asked while taking an office chair to sit. 'Just go back to Sid. Let him bring you your meal, the heartburn will disappear.' he waved his hands away.

'Heartburn?' Brennan turned around to face Booth.

'What?' Booth asked confused.

'Hodgins has heartburn because stomach acid is rising into his esophagus.' Brennan explained and moved Hodgins away from the screen and dropped tweezers. Booth stood up, upon seeing her typing in. 'The ketamine, plus chocking, could have caused Nestor to regurgitate. ' she waved her hand up and down her neck to show visually. 'The rope would hold the gastric juices in the upper throat, weakening the hyoid…'

Zack looked at them for a moment before moving towards Booth to stand next to him.

'…digestive juices are basically hydrochloric acid…' Brennan said to Booth and moved back to the screen.

'Sometimes, when you're not busy, I wonder if I could ask you a few questions about sexual positions.' Zack quietly asked.

'If you even try, I'll take out my gun and shoot you between the eyes…' Booth wasn't in the mood for such a discussion, especially with Zack. _'What's got into him…?_' Booth thought.

'These marks here and here…' Brennan pointed on screen for Hodgins to see. '…that's scoring consistent with hydrochloric acid.'

'I don't like where you're going with this.' Booth quickly interrupted them.

Brennan heard him. 'We need to run a few scenarios through the Angelator…'

**Angela's Office…**

After separating from Zack, Angela settled down in her office, making noted and dealing with other stuff until further notice would come by. And it did.

'Replace the values for the hyoid bone mass with these sliding coefficients.' as soon as Brennan entered the room, her voice made Angela to look away from the desk. Booth followed after. 'That will replicate bone deterioration…' she handed Angela the paper and turned to Booth. '…as the hyoid is being digested by stomach acid.' Brennan walked closer to the picture of hanging skeleton between two panels.

'I'm applying a timeline and running it fast forward.' Angela said and began typing. 'This will show it in measured time.'

'The body decomposes and the gastric juices, trapped by the noose and Nestor's esophagus, actually digest the hyoid over time…wait...there…' Brennan pointed. 'The hyoid cracked.'

'196.3 hours.' Angela said. 'Just over eight days.' she calculated further.

'The finding is congruent with suicide.' Brennan said while looking at her.

'I do not accept that.' Booth argued.

'It's a fact.' Brennan stated for him to deal with it. 'You can't not accept a fact. I have to amend my 'Cause of Death' report…'

'Than you'll stop my investigation….' Booth's eyes got widened in disbelief. 'The school's trying to cover up a murder, and you're helping them.' with that he left both women alone – Angela looked over the screen while Brennan moved to look over the simulation once again.

**Moments later…**

Nestor's remains were place on the platform again, Brennan standing next to them while holding a picture of Nestor in his church robes.

'Honey?' Angela's voice came out of nowhere, since Brennan left her office alone and quickly and there was nothing coming from Booth side as well. 'Did you ever just believe something?' Angela asked as she walked to stand aside Brennan. 'Despite the evidence, just know it was true?' Brennan just looked over the picture again.

'No…' she shook her head and quickly turned to face Angela. 'I've always known the difference between hope and fact…' Brennan said and moved her sight over the remains, Angela followed her direction. 'All that's left of this boy is a tableful of bones. Now everyone's he's ever know has and agenda: his parents, his school, even the cop investigating his death.' she just had to mention Booth as a _cop_. 'You know…' her voice angered. 'I'm the only one who cares about the truth of what Nestor's life came to in the end, good or bad and I know the truth is more important than anything else.' Brennan looked over the remains.

'You know, or you hope it's true?' Angela asked after patiently listening.

Brennan looked over Angela's side. 'Suicide is the most rational, logical explanation. What I believe doesn't matter. What makes me mad doesn't matter...'

Angela just unfolded the sketch pad she had in her hands. 'Look at this face.' she began. 'He did not kill himself…' Angela tried to convince while Brennan slightly shook her head with a clear message _it's not going to work, Angela_…

'Angela, I need a little more proof than a nice drawing.' she managed to put up a little smile.

'I can do that.' Angela reassured her and handed the sketch pad. Brennan took it with the same hand she was holding the picture, covering the photo just because pad was on top. Angela just walked away from the platform leaving Brennan alone.

**Angela's Office…**

Angela kept her promise to Brennan and managed to find something interesting and worth to look at. So, she called Booth to come in. Brennan came in moments later, though Booth remained silent and kept his posture. They knew his position since their last conversation.

'Okay, this is not from the DVD. It's a quick snippet that was on Nestor's hard drive.' Angela was setting the TV screen. 'Somebody tried to erase it, but Zack and I got some of it back.' Angela took a seat on armchair.

It was another _making out _videos with Nestor and Camden on the bed. Nestor was trying to put something around Camden's neck.

'Angela, zoom in on that necklace.' Brennan asked.

'A little sea horse? Come on. What kind of blackmailer does that?' Angela stated more than she asked. 'It's sweet. It's a clueless kid in love.'

'That's your evidence that he didn't commit suicide? A sea horse?' Brennan thought Angela was joking.

'The kid doesn't give a gift because he's in love.' Booth spoke up and scratched the back of his head. 'He does it 'cause he wants a little loving.'

'Rerun that.' Brennan didn't listen and said suddenly as she noticed something strange.

'That cynicism you affect, Booth?' Angela asked with smile. 'It's your way of hiding a deeply romantic nature.'

'There. Stop. Play again.' Brennan waited for the moment the spotted in the video, ignoring the strange conversation between Angela and Booth.

'There. She rolled her eyes for the camera.' Brennan said out loud what she was curious about.

'What?' Booth asked.

'No, I didn't see it either.' Angela admitted.

'Play it slow motion.' Brennan advised. 'Zoom it. There. Slow motion.'

Booth lifted his back from the couch. 'How did you see that?' he became interested.

'Wait. That girl knew the camera was there. She looked right at it.' Angela confirmed.

'Camden isn't a victim. She's in on it.' Brennan said.

'You don't roll your eyes to yourself. You do that for someone else, not Nestor Olivos.' Booth added.

Brennan nodded her head while looking from Booth to Angela. 'What do we do now?'

'This is where a public school education comes in handy. Divide and conquer. It was the playground motto.

**FBI Bureau…**

Booth managed to get both Tucker and Camden placed in one place, only in different rooms. While Tucker remained seated alone with people coming to his aid in Interrogation Room, Camden was facing different communication…

'What would help me, Camden, is if you told me why Nestor killed himself.' Booth began.

'Then we can close the murder investigation.' Brennan added while Camden was looking with wide eyes, her fingers scratching the lace of sea horse.

'Why is Tucker here?' she asked out of sudden.

'Oh, Tucker… he said some things…' Booth said as he leaned over the counter, Brennan took a sip of her coffee.

'What things?' Camden tried to remain calm.

'Well, what Tucker told us doesn't make you look good.' Booth pouted his mouth.

'I believe him, but what Agent Booth says it was only fair to hear your side.' Brennan added up.

'If your stories match up, I'll be able to drop the murder investigation.' Booth offered the _sort of _deal. Camden's hand just fell down on the table.

'You know, I find it hard to believe that it was your idea for Tucker to seduce your mother.' Brennan looked over Camden's parents as she placed empty cup on the table, than her focus turned to Camden herself.

'It wasn't, she hit on Tucker.' Camden admitted.

'No, wait, wait.' Camden's mother got nervous. 'Can they do this?' she asked her husband.

'They're fishing. Don't say a word.' Mr. Destry hushed to calm his wife.

Brennan rushed to defend herself. 'I wasn't fishing.' the she turned to Booth. 'Were you fishing?'

'No, I wasn't fishing.' Booth said without a doubt.

'Tucker was all 'Stacey's Mom' about it.' Camden didn't wait for them to finish, so she just snapped in. 'I just sort of gave him permission.' she was looking over her parents. 'It was funny.'

'Please stop this.' Mrs. Destry couldn't take it anymore on hearing what her daughter was talking. 'Stop it.'

'Mom, deal with it, okay?' Camden was tired of her mother's anxiety. 'You're the one that's the perv, so…' Melodee just moved her head to avoid looking at her daughter. 'When my mom gave Tucker money to keep him quiet, we got the idea to blackmail her with the tape. I was mad at her, I guess.' Camden took a breath. 'And Tucker said it was my turn.'

'Nestor was rich, lonely, Catholic, and he had a thing for you.' Booth said while fixing his shirt sleeve.

'And he was cute.' Camden added. 'People didn't notice because of the way he talked, but he was really cute. I liked him. We made the tape and showed it to Nestor, it made him really upset, really upset.'

'Because you threatened to show it to his mother?' Brennan asked.

'Or because I broke his heart. I still can't believe he killed himself.' Camden shook her head. 'I'm really sorry he did that.'

'What Camden did was wrong, which she's acknowledged, but she can't be held responsible for an unstable boy's reaction.' Camden's father tried to make some negotiations in order to spare his daughter.

'I said I'm sorry.' Camden repeated herself.

'Yeah. Camden Destry, I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of Nestor Olivos…' Booth lifted himself from the counter.

Immediately Camden looked over her parents.

'She's admitted to blackmail and attempted blackmail. That's all.' her father rushed to help.

'Nestor's was going to go to the headmaster and expose you, so you dosed him with ketamine and hauled him up into the tree.' Brennan explained the real deal. 'The DNA traces in the rope will prove that.'

'Plus, you've already confessed to the motive.' Booth added while looking at Brennan.

'If I cooperate, and tell you everything Tucker did, do I get some sort of deal?' Camden used her last resort.

Her question made both partners to look at each other. 'That depends on what else you got.' Booth said calmly.

**Jeffersonian…Brennan's Office…**

'The headmaster and the head of the security will both lose their jobs over what happened to Nestor. The sheriff will resign. Two kids who killed your son are both in custody.' Booth revealed the outcome to the woman sitting next to him. Brennan was at her desk facing both of them.

'Thank you.' Mrs. Olivos said.

As soon as they got all things done at the Bureau, they called the Ambassador to come to Institute.

'We're very sorry for your loss.' Booth repeated the phrase, meaning every word of it.

And with that the Ambassador stood up, Booth and Brennan followed her.

'Ambassador Olivos?' Brennan stopped her. 'You told me that all a mother wants is to know that she's raised her child well. That your biggest regret is that you'll never know if Nestor would have grown up to be a good man, but he was a good man.' she handed the very same picture of Nestor in frame. 'He died because he was trying to do the right thing.'

Tears were gathering on Olivos' face and she turned on her heels before walking out without saying any word.

Booth waited until they were alone in office and stood next to her. 'Very impressive, Temperance. You got that one right.' his words made Brennan smile and Booth smiled at her reaction to his teasing.

And with that Booth walked out as well, making his way out of the Institute and heading over the Bureau just to make sure everything's done for the rest of the day, Brennan decided to do the same without noticing that her _gang_ was gone for the day as well.

**Wong Fu's…**

'When you're with someone, the gymnastics aren't what matter. It's who you are.' Angela tried to talk some sense to Zack as they were sitting at the same booth they were before, no nasty photos this time. Hodgins was at the bar counter, trying to fight off his heartburn with another dish of soup. 'It's in your intentions, and in how much you care about the other person.' she began to scratch the food with chopsticks.

'If you don't want to help me, just say so.' Zack lifted his arms in defeat.

'All right, I'm going to let you in on a secret. This is a female secret.' Zack looked at her. 'Go to Naomi and tell her that you don't know anything about lovemaking. Sex, yeah. Lovemaking, you're a blank state.' Zack kept on looking. 'You'll do anything she wants if she just introduces you to the secrets of love. She'll be more interested in that than if you were the most imaginative lover on the planet.' she began nibbling her food again.

'That is totally counterintuitive.'

'Just do it, Z-Man. Reap the benefits of my sexual wisdom.' Zack's eyes fluttered while Angela kept on smile for him.

'Oh no, this isn't going to work.' Booth said annoyed as he saw the squints in his favourite place. Brennan, on the other hand, was happy about seeing her colleagues here. 'I mean, this is my place.' he tried to argue, though Brennan wasn't in the mood to argue with him and walked over Angela and Zack. Angela moved over to make some space for her best friend. 'Sid?' Booth noticed the owned the end of the bar counter.

'As long as they keep it down on the subject of rotten corpses and bodily fluids, I have no beef at all.' Sid said with no intention to kick out customers no matter what kind of they are. Booth rubbed his forehead in despair.

'Okay, that's amazing…' Hodgins suddenly said. 'I…I had heartburn. I asked Sid to bring me something, and now heartburn's gone. I mean it's gone.' Hodgins said although no one listened to him, only Booth smiling at Sid, trying to tell him how ridiculous this situation is. 'Man, I love this place.' Hodgins carried on eating his food.

'Okay, fine. New rules.' Booth spoke making sure he was heard by _them._ Angela and Brennan turned to look at him. Even Zack lifted his eyes to look up. 'That counter is mine. That booth is yours. Everything else around here, right? Mine. Right?' he tapped on the table closest to him. 'Mine. M-I-N-E.' he spelled the word with the last letter turning to Hodgins. 'Mine.' with last word he took a seat on the counter and looked at Hodgins with a look that said _why are you still here?_

It took seconds for Hodgins to gather his things and leave the counter peacefully.

As Booth gathered sugar canister and bowl of peanuts, Brennan made her way towards the bar and sat next to Booth. Technically, the place Hodgins was sitting seconds ago.

'I've been thinking about your whole 'something stinks' aptitude.'

'Oh, yeah?' Booth responded and Brennan nodded her head in agreement.

'I think you have a subconscious knack for reading body language. Stress in the voice, other subtle yet discernible indicators. It's not mysterious, but it is impressive and in the future, I will try to accord it an appropriate degree of objective worth.'

'Thank you, Temperance.' by the time she was speaking coffee and piece of pie were right in front of Booth. 'I appreciate that…so…uh…' he took a bite. '…what part of 'This is mine' did you not understand? Do I have to say it in Latin?' he took sugar and poured some in his coffee.

Brennan was looking at him with small smile until she let out a chuckle and stood up while taking something out of her pocket.

'Absit invidia.' she said while placing her hand on his arm. Her other hand placed some kind of a card next to his coffee. After that she left. Booth swirled fork inside the liquid and took another bite of a pie before picking up the card. Surprisingly, there was the photo of him, the very same one on his FBI badge.

The only difference is that, that it was access pass for Jeffersonian…

'Nice…' Booth said after looking at himself for a couple of seconds.


	5. Question

So, I'm nearly finishing upcoming chapter for The Man in the Bear, hoping to post tomorrow or the day after and been thinking if this is what I'm doing is worth doing or not.

It takes time and patience and some imagination of what to add, how to make it more interesting to read and enjoy, if there is anybody out there who's reading, I wonder since I'm using the whole episode as the skeleton for structure of chapter...must be boring to read, I know...but still...no one can ban you for hoping, right?

So what I want is just to know what you think and tell me, honestly if I should carry on this, if some of you still interested in this kinda way of writing. Because I'll be honest with you too - this story I'm making already has almost 2k views since I started it in April(if my memory serves it right) and it scares me alot 'cause I know not everyone wants to write comment or anything like that, they just pass, so that what bothers me a bit if it's worth writing and believe me, it really effects motivation...

Maybe I sound a bit harsh on this and you will say it's been always like this on this website, people just come and go, don't be surprised and so on and on, but I'm not blaming anyone, just want to know if I have to blame myself...

p.s. PM me, don't comment on this chapter, please.


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